Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis

Who is Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis?

Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis is the United States Ambassador to Hungary. She was sworn into office by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on January 7, 2010. She presented her credentials to the President of Hungary, László Sólyom on January 11, 2010.

Before accepting President Obama’s nomination to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis was president of AKT Development Corporation, one of California’s largest land development firms. Ambassador Kounalakis earned her undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Haas School of Business. In 2011, she received an Honorary Doctorate in Law from the American College of Greece.

Ambassador Kounalakis and her husband, veteran print and broadcast journalist Markos Kounalakis, founded two university chairs in Hellenic studies, the Markos and Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis chair at Georgetown University, and the Tsakopoulos Kounalakis chair in honor of Constantine Mitsotakis at Stanford University, held by Josiah Ober. Both chairs focus on the understanding of the origins of Athenian democracy. They also established the Tsakopoulos Kounalakis lecture series at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars to focus on democracy and international relations.