Joseph S. Pennington is a former American diplomat who is a Career Member of the

Senior Foreign Service The Senior Foreign Service (SFS) comprises the top four ranks of the United States Foreign Service. These ranks were created by the Foreign Service Act of 1980 and Executive Order 12293 in order to provide the Foreign Service with senior grades equ ...

with the rank of Minister-Counselor and is the Senior Advisor to the Ambassador on U.S. Assistance to Ukraine. When Ambassador

Marie Yovanovitch Marie Louise "Masha" Yovanovitch (born November 11, 1958) is a Canadian-American former diplomat and retired senior member of the United States Foreign Service. She served in multiple State Department posts, including Senior Advisor to the Under ...

was recalled in the spring of 2019, and incoming Deputy Chief of Mission Kristina Kvien not to arrive in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

on May 28, Pennington continued to serve as chargé d'affaires and acting deputy chief through the transition period. It has been reported that Pennington was one of two Embassy officials who were briefed on a meeting in which Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, ; russian: Владимир Александрович Зеленский, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zelenskyy, (born 25 January 1978; also transliterated as Zelensky or Zelenskiy) is a Ukrainian politicia ...

said he felt pressure from the Trump Administration to investigate

Hunter Biden Robert Hunter Biden (born February 4, 1970) is an American attorney who is the second son of President of the United States, U.S. President Joe Biden and his first wife Neilia Hunter Biden. He is also a hedge fund, venture capital, and privat ...

Biography

Pennington is a graduate of the

University of Maryland, Baltimore County The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public research university in Baltimore County, Maryland. It has a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs (38 master, 25 doctoral, ...

(UMBC), where he earned a B.A. in political science, and from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

where he earned an M.A. in political science.

Career highlights

*Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (2015–18) *Director of the Office of Iraq Affairs (2015) *Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Erbil, in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (2013–15) for which Pennington received the Ryan C. Crocker Award for Outstanding Leadership in Expeditionary Diplomacy. *Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Prague, Czech Republic (2010–13) in Yerevan, Armenia (2007–10). *headed the U.S. Embassy Branch Office in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina (2000–01). *His work as political-economic officer at the U.S. Consulate in Adana, Turkey (1995–98) was recognized with the Assistant Secretary's Award for Exceptional Achievement in the Field of Human Rights and Democracy

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pennington, Joseph Columbia University alumni University of Maryland, Baltimore County alumni Ambassadors of the United States to Ukraine American consuls Year of birth missing (living people) Living people United States Foreign Service personnel 21st-century American diplomats