Mark Brzezinski

Ambassador (ret.) Mark Brzezinski has built a distinguished career at the intersection of diplomacy, law, global business and sustainability. He is President and CEO of Brzezinski Global Strategies, a boutique strategic consulting firm advising on geopolitics, international business and responsible investment.

From 2021 to 2024, Mark Brzezinski served as United States Ambassador to Poland, during a pivotal period for European security and democracy. Under his tenure, Poland hosted more than 13,000 U.S. troops, and President Joe Biden announced the first permanent U.S. military installation in Poland. Ambassador Brzezinski played a central role in securing the selection of American firms Westinghouse and Bechtel to build Poland’s first civil nuclear power plant, a landmark $30 billion project. During this time, Poland also embarked on a process of democratic renewal. In recognition of his service, he was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit by the President of the Republic of Poland.

During the Obama Administration, Mark Brzezinski served as U.S. Ambassador to Sweden from 2011 to 2015. The U.S. Embassy in Stockholm became known for pioneering innovative approaches to U.S.–European trade and securing major Swedish investments in the United States, including Volvo’s historic $1 billion decision to build its first U.S. auto assembly plant in South Carolina. He helped consolidate U.S. commercial diplomacy efforts across the Nordic region under the U.S. Embassy in Sweden.

As Ambassador to Sweden, Mark Brzezinski organized the first-ever U.S. Presidential visit to Stockholm in 2013, bringing together all five Nordic heads of government for a summit that galvanised a U.S.–Nordic strategic agenda on energy, innovation and sustainability. For his contribution to Sweden–U.S. relations, he was awarded the Royal Order of the Polar Star by the King of Sweden, a high honour rarely bestowed on foreign ambassadors.

In 2015, Mark Brzezinski was appointed by the White House as the first Executive Director of the Arctic Executive Steering Committee. In that role he drove President Obama’s historic engagement in the Arctic, led the organisation of the first-ever Arctic Science Ministerial at the White House and helped establish new standards for sustainable commercial development in the fragile Arctic region. Earlier in his public service career, from 1999 to 2001, he served on President Clinton’s National Security Council staff, first as Director for Russia and Eurasia and then as Director for the Balkans.

In the private sector, Mark Brzezinski was Managing Director at Makena Capital Management, where he led the firm’s sustainability initiatives and helped shape investment strategies responding to growing demand for environmentally and socially responsible portfolios. Before joining the Obama Administration, he was a partner at McGuireWoods LLP in Washington, D.C., where he helped build the firm’s international compliance practice.

Mark Brzezinski holds a BA from Dartmouth College, a JD from the University of Virginia—where he served on the Law Review—and a Doctorate in Political Science from the University of Oxford. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and has served on the board of advisors of CFR’s Corporate Program. A Fulbright Scholar in Poland from 1991 to 1993, he was later appointed by President Obama to the U.S. State Department’s Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, overseeing the Fulbright and other U.S. government exchange programmes. In 2018, he served as an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce, co-teaching the “World of Investing” course.

Mark Brzezinski has written for leading publications including the Financial Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal Europe, the International Herald Tribune and POLITICO, and has appeared on major broadcast outlets such as NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, FOX, MSNBC and the BBC.