Kempton Jenkins

fmr. official, U.S. State Department

Kempton Jenkins is a retired U.S. State department official who was a major figure in Ukrainian, Eastern European, and Russian trade and political affairs. As Deputy Assistant Secretary for East-West Trade, he coordinated U.S.-Soviet trade policy and the delegation that resulted in the first U.S. China trade agreement. As Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations, he worked with the U.S. Congress on important trade bills and on ratification of the Panama Canal Treaties. Earlier in his career, Mr. Jenkins served as Assistant Director of the U.S. Information Agency for Soviet and Eastern European Affairs; Political Counselor in the U.S. Embassy in Caracas; and political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, where he assisted Ambassador Lewellyn Thompson in Berlin negotiations with the Soviets. From 1980-1990, Mr. Jenkins took his extensive government experience to the private sector, where he became the Corporate Vice President for international government affairs of the integrated steel manufacturing company Armco. From 1990-2002, he was senior consultant to APCO Worldwide. Mr. Jenkins also served as an adjunct professor on East-West Trade at Georgetown University. He received his undergraduate degree in history from Bowling Green University, a Master’s in International Law from George Washington University, and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University, and was awarded an honorary Ph.D. in Public Affairs by Bowling Green University. Mr. Jenkins speaks German, Russian, and Spanish.