Mark Francis Brzezinski (born April 7, 1965) is an American lawyer who served as the

United States Ambassador to Poland The history of ambassadors of the United States to Poland began in 1919. Until the end of World War I, Poland had been partitioned between Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary. After the war and the collapse of the empires, Poland became an in ...

from 2022 to 2025. He previously served as the

United States Ambassador to Sweden The United States ambassador to the Kingdom of Sweden () serves as the official diplomatic representative of the United States to the Monarchy of Sweden, King and the Government of Sweden, Government of the Kingdom of Sweden. Sweden – United S ...

from 2011 to 2015 under President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. The son of

Zbigniew Brzezinski Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński (, ; March 28, 1928 – May 26, 2017), known as Zbig, was a Polish-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as a counselor to Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and was Jimmy Carter's National Securi ...

, former

US National Security Advisor The assistant to the president for national security affairs (APNSA), commonly referred to as the national security advisor (NSA),The National Security Advisor and Staff: p. 1. is a senior aide in the Executive Office of the President, based at t ...

to President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

, Brzezinski attended

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

, the

University of Virginia Law School The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 as part of his "academical village", and now ...

, and

St. Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economics, politic ...

Early life and education

Brzezinski is the son of Emilie Benes Brzezinski and Polish-born former National Security Advisor

, and the grandson of Polish diplomat

Tadeusz Brzeziński Tadeusz Brzeziński (February 21, 1896 – January 7, 1990) was a Polish diplomat and consular official. He was the father of Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter's national security adviser. Life and career Brzeziński was born in th ...

. His mother is the grandniece of former

Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) ** Fourth Czechoslovak Repu ...

president

Edvard Beneš Edvard Beneš (; 28 May 1884 – 3 September 1948) was a Czech politician and statesman who served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again from 1939 to 1948. During the first six years of his second stint, he led the Czec ...

. His sister is

Mika Brzezinski Mika Emilie Leonia Brzezinski Scarborough (; Brzezinski; born May 2, 1967) is an American talk show host who co-hosts MSNBC's weekday morning broadcast show ''Morning Joe'' alongside her husband Joe Scarborough. She was formerly a CBS News corr ...

, co-host of the morning talk show ''

Morning Joe ''Morning Joe'' is an American morning news talk show, which airs weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, Eastern Time on the cable news channel MSNBC. It features former United States House of Representatives, US Repr ...

'', and his brother is military expert

Ian Brzezinski Ian Joseph Brzezinski (born December 23, 1963) is an American foreign policy and military affairs expert. He served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO Policy from 14 May 2001 to 20 January 2005, under President Georg ...

. He is also first cousin of author

Matthew Brzezinski Matthew Brzezinski (born October 7, 1965) is an American writer and journalist. Biography Brzezinski was born in Canada and is of Polish heritage. He graduated from McGill University in 1991. Brzezinski began working as a journalist in the earl ...

. Brzezinski graduated from

with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

, earned a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

, and holds a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. He also earned a

Fulbright Scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

to study the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland.

Career

Brzezinski was a corporate and securities associate at

Hogan & Hartson Hogan Lovells ( ) is an American-British law firm co-headquartered in London and Washington, DC. The firm was formed in 2010 by the merger of the American law firm Hogan & Hartson and the British law firm Lovells. As of 2024, the firm employed a ...

LLP in Washington, D.C. from 1996-1999. From 1999-2001, Brzezinski served in the

Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following his victory over Republican in ...

as a director of Russian/Eurasian affairs and director of Southeast European affairs of the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...

at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

. In that capacity, he was White House coordinator for U.S. democracy and rule of law assistance programs for the region. Brzezinski was a foreign policy advisor to the presidential campaign of

, and was later appointed Ambassador to Sweden by Obama.

Ambassador to Poland

On May 26, 2021, ''The New York Times'' reported that President Joe Biden was considering nominating Brzezinski to be the

. Brzezinski was officially nominated on August 4. On August 9, 2021, his nomination was sent to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. Hearings on his nomination were held before the

Senate Foreign Relations Committee The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for authorizing and overseeing foreign a ...

on December 1, 2021. His nomination was favorably reported by the committee on December 15, 2021, and was confirmed by the Senate on December 18, 2021 by

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "by live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by respondin ...

. Brzezinski was sworn in as the United States Ambassador to Poland on January 19, 2022 by Vice President

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...

. He presented his credentials to President

Andrzej Duda Andrzej Sebastian Duda (born 16 May 1972) is a Polish lawyer and politician who has served as the sixth president of Poland since 2015. Before becoming president, he served as a Member of the Sejm from 2011 to 2014 and before becoming Member of ...

on February 22, 2022.

Awards

In 2007

President of Poland The president of Poland ( ), officially the president of the Republic of Poland (), is the head of state of Poland. His or her prerogatives and duties are determined in the Constitution of Poland. The president jointly exercises the executive ...

Lech Kaczyński Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010 in an air crash. The aircraft carrying ...

decorated him with Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. The order was awarded ''"for outstanding contributions to the development of Polish-American relations and for promoting a positive image of Poland in the world"''. In 2018, he received the

Order of the Polar Star The Royal Order of the Polar Star (Swedish language, Swedish: ''Kungliga Nordstjärneorden''), sometimes translated as the Royal Order of the North Star, is a Swedish order of chivalry created by Frederick I of Sweden, King Frederick I on 23 F ...

, Commander 1st Class.

Personal life

He is currently divorced. His first wife was Carolyn M. Campbell, a lawyer. His second wife, from 2008 until 2022, was Natalia Brzezinski, née Lopatniuk.Steve Clemons (September 6, 2008)
''Congratulations Natalia Lopatniuk & Mark Brzezinski''
Retrieved November 23, 2019.

References

External links

Profile at the GlobalistProfile at McGuireWoods
* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Brzezinski, Mark 1965 births Living people University of Virginia School of Law alumni Dartmouth College alumni Ambassadors of the United States to Sweden Ambassadors of the United States to Poland Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford American people of Czech descent American people of Polish descent American people of Swiss descent

Mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

Washington, D.C., Democrats Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American diplomats Commanders First Class of the Order of the Polar Star