Lewis Lukens, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, has served as the U.S. ambassador to Senegal and to Guinea-Bissau since July 11, 2011. As the son of a diplomat, Lukens once lived in Senegal as a child.

 

His father, Alan W. Lukens, served as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) from 1984 to 1987, having previously served as consul in Brazzaville 1960-1961. Alan Lukens’ wife, children and mother were killed in a plane crash in the Central African Republic. Lewis Lukens was born to Alan and his second wife, Susan.

 

Following his father, Lukens, as a child, also lived in Morocco, Kenya and Denmark. Lukens graduated from St. Paul Catholic School in Princeton, New Jersey in 1982 and earned his bachelor’s degree in history in 1986 from Princeton University. He returned to Princeton in 2002 and earned a masters in public policy.

 

After joining the Foreign Service in 1989, Lukens’ first two tours were in Guangzhou, China, (1990) and Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (1992). 

 

He later served management officer in Sydney, Australia (1995), management counselor in Dublin, Ireland (2003) and as executive secretary in Baghdad, Iraq (2004),

 

Lukens has served in a variety of positions in the State Department and the White House. He was senior director for administration at the National Security Council during and after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, served in the State Department’s Executive Secretariat, and worked as special assistant to the director general of the Foreign Service. 

 

He was U.S. Consul General in Vancouver, Canada, from 2005-2008. In this capacity, he oversaw the work of eight government agencies and managed a range of trade, border, national security, and public diplomacy issues. 

 

Prior to becoming ambassador, Lukens returned to the State Department’s Executive Secretariat, this time as executive director managing the office that provides travel, information technology, human resource, budget, security, and contracting support to the secretary of state and other State Department leaders.

 

Lukens and his wife, Lucy, have two daughters.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Official Biography (U.S. Embassy Senegal)