Head of School Rodney LaBrecque is pleased to announce that Ambassador Mark G. Hambley Retired will deliver the Commencement address to the Class of 2008 on May 24. During his 32 years as a Foreign Service Officer, Ambassador Hambley was the recipient of several international, U.S. Government and community awards, medals, and commendations. He is a fellow of London’s Royal Geographical Institute and a lifetime member of the U.S. National Geographical Society and has been an active member and participant in numerous civic and philanthropic organizations.

Ambassador Hambley currently serves as the Managing Director for International Matters for Apollo Security, Inc., which is based in Walpole, Massachusetts, and New York City, with a client base throughout the US and the world at large.

In January 2005, he was named as the first American trustee for the London-based Next Century Foundation (NCF), which deals with peace and reconciliation issues, principally in the Middle East and Africa. He also serves as officer-in-charge and treasurer of the NCF’s US operations. In February 2007, he was elected to the board of directors of the Middle East Policy Council based in Washington, DC. In July 2007, he was invited to join the CSO Security Executive Council as an Emeritus Faculty member.

Ambassador Hambley began his diplomatic career with a posting to Saigon in 1971, and he subsequently served at eleven postings in eight Middle Eastern countries, including Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia. Following his appointment as U.S. Ambassador to Qatar in 1989, he served as the American Ambassador to Lebanon and later as the U.S. Special Representative to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. Ambassador Hambley’s service in multilateral diplomacy included his designation as the U.S. Representative to the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests and as the Special Negotiator on Climate Change during the Clinton years and first six months of the George W. Bush administration.

After the events of September 11, 2001, Ambassador Hambley temporarily rejoined the U.S. government as the Political Advisor to the commander of the U.S. Air Force deployment in the Middle East during the conflict against “al-Qa’ida” and the Taliban in Afghanistan. He was later recruited, on a temporary and exceptional basis, to head the London Media Outreach Center (MOC) in March 2003 prior to the Iraq war. This was a specialized unit established under the authority of the U.S. Congress in early 2003. Ambassador Hambley and his team supported U.S. military deployments in the Middle East and liaised with governments, media, and academics in Europe and the Arab and broader Islamic world on a variety of issues related to public diplomacy, the U.S. effort in Iraq, the Middle East peace process, and the multinational effort to combat international terrorism.

A native of Idaho, Ambassador Hambley attended primary and secondary school in Canada and in Illinois. His university education includes degrees from American University and Columbia University, with additional studies undertaken at the American University of Beirut (in Lebanon), New York University, and the University of California. He is married and resides in Springfield, Massachusetts.