Davies has a solid background on East Asian affairs. He served as principal deputy assistant secretary of state and deputy assistant secretary of state at the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2006 to 2009. He was Special Representative for North Korea Policy from 2012 to 2014.
His areas of concern also include democracy and human rights.
He was senior adviser at the Foreign Service Institute's Leadership and Management School from 2005 to 2006, and acting assistant secretary at the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor in 2005.
He served as deputy spokesman of the State Department and deputy assistant secretary for Public Affairs from 1995 to 1997, and director of the State Department Operations Center from 1992 to 1994.
Earlier, he was posted to Australia, France, the United Kingdom and Zaire.
Davies has a Bachelor's degree in foreign service from Georgetown University and a Masters in security from the National Defense University.