Ambassador (ret.) Mark Brzezinski is President and CEO of Brzezinski Global Strategies, LLC. With a distinguished career in public service and the private sector, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Poland from 2021-2025. Mark spearheaded the selection of American firms Westinghouse and Bechtel to build Poland’s first civil nuclear power plant, a $30 billion deal. For his service in Poland, in January 2025, he was awarded by the President of Poland the “Order of the Commander’s Cross” for his role in fostering international cooperation and the U.S.-Polish relationship.

During the Obama Administration, Mark served as U.S. Ambassador to Sweden between 2011-2015. He arranged the first-ever U.S. Presidential visit to Stockholm in 2013, which brought together all five heads of governments of the Nordic countries for a summit that galvanized a U.S.- Nordic strategic approach on energy, innovation and sustainability. For his service, Mark was awarded the Royal Order of the Polar Star by the King of Sweden, a high honor rarely bestowed on a foreign ambassador.

In 2015, Mark was asked by the White House to lead a strategic effort on the Arctic. As the first Executive Director of the White House’s Arctic Executive Steering Committee, he spearheaded President Obama’s historic engagement in the Arctic and was the driving force behind the White House’s hosting of the first-ever Arctic Science Ministerial. His leadership resulted in new markers being set for commercial development in the fragile Arctic region. From 1999 to 2001, he served in the White House on President Clinton’s National Security Council staff, first as a Director for Russia and Eurasia, and then as a Director for the Balkans.

In the private sector, Mark was a Managing Director of Makena Capital Management where he spearheaded the firm’s sustainability efforts and assisted in responding to the growing demand for environmentally and socially responsible investment portfolios. Before joining the Obama Administration, Mark was a partner at McGuireWoods LLP, where he helped build the law firm’s international compliance practice. He has published articles in the Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal Europe, and has been interviewed on NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, BBC and others.

Mark received his BA from Dartmouth College, his JD from the University of Virginia, and a Doctorate in Political Science from Oxford University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where he has served on the board of advisors of CFR’s Corporate Program. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Poland in 1991-93, and in 2010 President Obama named him to the U.S. State Department’s Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. In January 2018, Mark served as a University of Virginia adjunct professor, co-teaching the “World of Investing” course at the McIntire School of Commerce.