Hankins, Dennis Bruce, 1959-

<p>Dennis Hankins, a career Foreign Service officer, was nominated on July 8, 2015, to be the next ambassador to Guinea. He was confirmed by the Senate on Oct. 22. It is the first such posting for him.</p>

<p>Hankins’ father, Bruce, was an engineer with Esso and worked in Europe and South America. While Hankins was still a youngster, his mother, Margie, brought him and his brother, Knute, to Bemidji, Minnesota, for a more stable place to live. Hankins graduated from Bemidji High School in 1977. He evidently missed traveling the world, because he went to Georgetown University’s School for Foreign Service, graduating in 1981. He has an MA from the National War College.</p>

<p>Hankins joined the Foreign Service, with his first overseas posting coming as a vice consul in Recife, Brazil, in 1985. Thailand was another early posting. From 1989 to 1991, Hankins worked in Sudan and by 1992 he was consul in Haiti. There he dealt with boat people who had been returned to that country by order of President George H.W. Bush. As consul, he took requests for asylum from those wanting to leave the then-violent country. Few requests were granted.</p>

<p>Hankins returned to Africa in 1996 as a political/economic counselor in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the midst of the civil war that consumed that country then. In 1999, he got another assignment as a political/economic counselor, but this time in Lisbon, Portugal. He was sent back to Africa in 2001 as the Deputy Chief of Mission in Maputo, Mozambique.</p>

<p>In 2004, Hankins went to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as consul general there. He returned to Washington in 2005 as deputy director in the Office of Peacekeeping in the Bureau of International Organizations. He was sent back to Africa in 2007 as Deputy Chief of Mission in Nouakchott, Mauritania, then returned to Khartoum, Sudan, as Deputy Chief of Mission there. In 2012, he was named Consul General in Sao Paulo, Brazil.</p>

<p>Hankins and his wife, Mira, have a son, Danu, who is a U.S. Navy officer. Hankins speaks French and Portuguese. One of his pledges as ambassador is to help Guinea in its continuing efforts to fight the ongoing Ebola epidemic.</p>

<p>Dennis Bruce Hankins (born 1959) is an American diplomat who has served as United States Ambassador to Mali since 2019.</p>

<p>Hankins joined the Foreign Service in 1984. His first overseas postings were as vice-consul in Recife, Brazil and then in the U.S. Embassy in Thailand. In 1989, Hankins was posted to Sudan and then in 1992, given the job of consul in Haiti.</p>

<p>Four years later, Hankins was again posted to Africa to become the political and economic counselor in the Kinshasa embassy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, working there during the First Congo War and, for a lesser time, the Second Congo War. He moved to be the political and economic counselor in Lisbon, Portugal in 1999, spending just two years in the job before returning to Africa to be the deputy chief of mission in Maputo, Mozambique.</p>

<p>In 2004, Hankins was appointed consul general in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia but was recalled to Washington to become the deputy director of the Office of Peacekeeping in the Bureau of International Organizations. He returned to Africa in 2007 to be deputy chief of mission in Nouakchott, Mauritania and, in 2010, returned to Khartoum, Sudan as the deputy chief of mission.</p>

<p>In 2012, Hankins was given the post of consul general in Sao Paulo, Brazil, staying in the post until his nomination as United States Ambassador to Guinea by President Obama on the 8 July 2015. He was confirmed by the Senate on 22 October the same year.</p>

<p>On 13 August 2018, President Trump announced his intention to nominate Hankins to be the U.S. Ambassador to Mali. The nomination was tendered to the Senate on the August 16, 2018 and he was confirmed on January 2, 2019. He presented his credentials to President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta on March 15, 2019.</p>

<p>Hankins has a wife, Mira, and a son, Danu, who works for the U.S. Navy. He can speak French and Portuguese.</p>

<p>Dennis B. Hankins is the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Mali. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, he formerly served as Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea from 2015 to 2018.</p>

<p>Mr. Hankins was the Consul General at the U.S. Consulate in Sao Paulo, Brazil from 2012 to 2015. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan from 2010 to 2012 and at the U.S. Embassy in Nouakchott, Mauritania from 2007 to 2010.</p>

<p>From 2005 to 2007, Mr. Hankins served as Deputy Director of the Department of State’s Office of Peacekeeping in the Bureau of International Organizations from 2005 to 2007 and as Consul General at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 2004 to 2005.</p>

<p>Mr. Hankins served previously as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique from 2001 to 2004. Prior to this, he was the Political/Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal from 1999 to 2001, and the Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1996 to 1998.</p>

<p>Mr. Hankins’s early assignments with the Department of State were in Brazil, Haiti, Sudan, and Thailand. He received a B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University and a Master’s degree from the National War College.</p>