Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins is President and Founder of Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation (WCAPS), a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the leadership and professional development of women of color in the fields of international peace, security, and conflict transformation. Ambassador Jenkins is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Prior to these roles, she was an ambassador at the U.S. Department of State from 2009-17, where she served as coordinator for threat reduction programs in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation. In that role, Jenkins coordinated the Department of State’s programs and activities to prevent weapons of mass destruction (WMD) terrorism with programs funded by other U.S. departments and agencies, and also with similar programs funded by other countries. She served as the U.S. representative to the 30-nation G-7 Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction and chaired the Global Partnership in 2012. Jenkins was the Department of State’s lead to the four Nuclear Security Summits that took place from 2010-16. 

Jenkins is a retired Naval Reserves officer and received several awards for her service. Jenkins holds a doctorate in international relations from the University of Virginia; a Master of Law in international and comparative law from the Georgetown University Law Center; a Master of Public Administration from the State University of New York at Albany; a juris doctor from Albany Law School; and a bachelor’s from Amherst College.