Biden administration appoints former Bellingham resident to this international position
A diplomat raised in Bellingham was recently appointed by the Biden administration to serve as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Kosovo.
“Kosovo will be my 10th country,” Jeff Hovenier said. “But I am a product of Whatcom County, Washington.”
President Joe Biden nominated Hovenier in July, and he was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate on Nov. 18. It is Hovenier’s first time serving as a U.S. ambassador.
Hovenier spent a majority of his childhood in Bellingham, and many of his family members still live in Whatcom County. Hovenier moved to Bellingham as a kindergartner, after his father took a job as a professor at Western Washington University. Hovenier attended Bellingham Public Schools, graduating from Bellingham High School in 1983.
Hovenier went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree from Georgetown University before beginning his more than three-decade career as a diplomat. Much of his career has focused on security issues in Europe and Eurasia.
Before he was appointed to his new ambassadorial role, Hovenier served as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey. In addition to Kosovo and Turkey, Hovenier has served in Germany, Croatia, Greece, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Serbia and Montenegro. He speaks German, Greek, Croatian and Spanish, and he has received numerous awards, including some from the government of the Republic of Kosovo.
Hovenier played a role in the negotiations that eventually led to Kosovo declaring its independence from Serbia in 2008.
“We have invested a lot in the Balkans,” he said. “It’s in the U.S.’s interest for Kosovo to become a stable, democratic prosperous country, which it is becoming.”
Hovenier believes it is important to pay homage to his Washington roots in his roles abroad. He is working with a curator to select the art that will hang in his Kosovo home and in the U.S. Embassy, where he will entertain foreign leaders. Hovenier is selecting art that reflects the spirit of the Pacific Northwest — he particularly hopes to showcase works from Indigenous artists.
Hovenier is not certain when he will retire but plans to do so with his wife in Bellingham. (One of Hovenier’s four children lives in Sandy Point, north of Bellingham.) Hovenier appreciates the region’s beauty and laid-back culture, as well as the ability to recreate outdoors year-round.
“I kind of always knew I wanted to go back,” he said. “It is the community that formed me. It is my community.”
