His grandfather, Israel Gitenstein, was born in Bessarabia. Mark Gitenstein is senior counsel in the International Trade practice in Mayer Brown's Washington DC office. He was appointed in 2009 by President Barack Obama to serve as the United States Ambassador to Romania, completing his term of service at the end of 2012. He served on the board of directors of The Biden Foundation. As US Ambassador to Romania, he worked to strengthen relations with Ro- mania on a variety of issues. He actively promoted deeper development of Romania's equity markets, as well as a fair and transparent business environment for all inves- tors. He also encouraged greater private sector involvement in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), including the introduction of a corporate governance code for SOEs. Nota- bly, the US-Romanian Ballistic Missile Defense Agreement was negotiated and signed during his tenure. In 2012, Romanian President T r a i n Bäsescu awarded Mark with the "Star of Romanian Grand Cross", the country's highest civil order. Before undertaking his ambassadorial role, Mark spent two decades at Mayer Brown, focusing his practice primarily on issues of government relations. He advised corporations and associations on legislative strategies, monitored and drafted legis- lation on behalf of corporate clients and advised clients in the context of antitrust, white-collar crime and civil liability controversies.