Mark Henry Gitenstein (born March 7, 1947) is an American lawyer and diplomat who had served as the

United States ambassador to the European Union This is a list of United States ambassadors to the European Union. The formal title of this position is Representative of the United States of America to the European Union (prior to May 9, 1994: European Communities), with the rank and status o ...

. He was nominated by President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

on July 27, 2021, and confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on December 18, 2021. He formerly served as the United States ambassador to Romania from 2009 to 2012; he was nominated by 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 ...

on June 11, 2009 and confirmed by the Senate on July 8, 2009.

Early life and education

Gitenstein is of

Romanian Jewish The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after ...

heritage, as his grandparents were immigrants from

Botoșani Botoșani () is the capital city of Botoșani County, in the northern part of Moldavia, Romania. Today, it is best known as the birthplace of many celebrated Romanians, including Mihai Eminescu, Nicolae Iorga and Grigore Antipa. Origin of the ...

, Romania in the late-19th century. He attended the

Indian Springs School Indian Springs School is a rural private school for grades eight through twelve, near Birmingham, Alabama, United States. It has both boarding and day students, and is located in Indian Springs Village, Shelby County, Alabama. History Indian ...

, graduating in 1964. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

and 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

Georgetown Law School Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment, with over ...

Career

Gitenstein served as chief counsel (1987–1989) and minority chief counsel (1981–1987) to the

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...

, serving under then-Senator

. Gitenstein also served as counsel to the

United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (sometimes referred to as the Intelligence Committee or SSCI) is dedicated to overseeing the United States Intelligence Community—the agencies and bureaus of the federal government of ...

(1975–1978). He became a partner at

Mayer Brown Mayer Brown is a global white-shoe law firm, founded in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It has offices in 27 cities throughout the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, with its largest offices being in Chicago, Washington, D.C., New ...

in 1989 and was a "nonresident senior fellow" at the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...

. He is the author of ''Matters of Principle'', a non-fiction book about the

Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination On July 1, 1987, President Ronald Reagan nominated Judge Robert Bork for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to succeed Lewis F. Powell Jr., who had earlier announced his retirement. At the time of his nomination, Bor ...

, for which he was awarded the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel award. He has been selected by his peers several times for inclusion in "Best Lawyers in America". He was also on the advisory board for President-elect

's presidential transition team.

Ambassador to Romania

In 2009 Gitenstein was nominated for the post of U.S. Ambassador to Romania. The Romanian English-language news daily Nine O'Clock selected Ambassador Gitenstein as "The Foreign Diplomat of the Year for 2011." Gitenstein worked to strengthen relations with

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

on a variety of issues, focusing on fighting corruption, improving transparency, and strengthening the rule of law. He actively promoted deeper development of Romania's equity markets, as well as a fair and transparent business environment for all investors. He also encouraged greater private sector involvement in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), including the introduction of a corporate governance code for SOEs. As a means of promoting social change, Gitenstein worked with TechSoup Romania to establish Restart Romania, a project designed to demonstrate the power of the internet and social media to find solutions to social justice problems, support transparency of public institutions, and promote grass roots efforts to fight corruption. The U.S.–Romanian Ballistic Missile Defense Agreement was signed and negotiated during Gitenstein's tenure in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

. Gitenstein travelled to Afghanistan three times to visit U.S. and Romanian troops. He was a human rights advocate for the country's minority Roma population. He was awarded the

Star of Romania The Order of the Star of Romania (Romanian: ''Ordinul Steaua României'') is Romania's highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the Order of Michael the Brave. It is the oldest Order of Romania. It is awarded by the President ...

, the country's highest civilian honor, in 2012.

Biden administration

On September 5, 2020, Gitenstein was announced to be a member of the advisory council of the Biden-Harris Transition Team.

Ambassador to the EU

On July 27, 2021, President

announced the nomination of Gitenstein to be the

. His nomination was sent to the Senate the following day. On September 28, 2021, a hearing on his nomination was 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 October 19, 2021, his nomination was reported favorably out of committee. The

confirmed him on December 18, 2021 by voice vote. Gitenstein presented his credentials to the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

president

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...

on January 24, 2022. As Ambassador, Gitenstein has highlighted the critical role of

free media Earned media (or free media) is content relating to a person or organization, which is published by a third party without any form of payment to the publisher. It includes articles by media outlets, interviews with the person or representatives of ...

as a safeguard against democratic regression, advocating for increased action and financial support in this domain. He established innovative frameworks to unite civil society leaders, financial experts, philanthropists, and successful media organizations, formulating policy recommendations for the

to utilize blended-finance equity investments to strengthen independent and pluralistic media ecosystems in the region. Acknowledging that international capital and EU policy initiatives alone are insufficient to sustain pluralistic media markets in Central and Eastern Europe, Gitenstein organized media investor forums within local markets to foster domestic engagement, expand financing mechanisms, and enhance trust and accountability in local media institutions.

Personal life

He is married to Elizabeth (Libby) Gitenstein and has three children and seven grandchildren.

Honors

Romanian Royal Family The Romanian royal family () constitutes the Romanian subbranch of the Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern (also known as the ''House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen''), and was the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Romania, a constitutional ...

: 53rd Knight of the Royal Decoration of the Cross of the Romanian Royal House

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Gitenstein, Mark 1946 births Ambassadors of the United States to the European Union Ambassadors of the United States to Romania American people of Romanian-Jewish descent Duke University alumni Living people People from Florala, Alabama