Nominated: Ankara DCM Jeffrey M. Hovenier to be U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo

July 30, 2021 By in FSOs, Nominations, Officially In, U.S. Missions Tags: , , ,

 

President Biden announced his intent to nominate career diplomat Jeffrey M. Hovenier as the next U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo. The WH released the following brief bio:

Jeffrey M. Hovenier, Nominee for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Kosovo

Jeffrey M. Hovenier, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister Counselor, currently serves as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, where he served as Chargé d’Affaires a.i. from August 2018 through July 2019.  Prior to that, he was Acting Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, Germany.  He also served at U.S. missions in Croatia, Greece, Panama, Paraguay, and Peru; at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); and on the staff of the UN Special Envoy for Kosovo Status.  His Washington assignments include service as Director for Central and Southeastern European Affairs at the National Security Council and in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs with responsibility for NATO and Central European Affairs.  He has a Master’s degree from Georgetown University and a Bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University.  He speaks German, Greek, Croatian, and Spanish.

If confirmed, Mr. Hovenier would succeed Ambassador Philip S. Kosnett who was confirmed by the Senate in September 2018 and is the current Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Pristina. Coincidentally, Ambassador Kosnett’s most recent assignment prior to Pristina was as Deputy Chief of Mission and subsequently Chargé d’Affaires ad interim in Ankara, Turkey from 2016-2018.

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