Lana Marks

Lana J. Marks (born November 18, 1953) is a South African-born American business executive who founded the eponymous fashion brand. She is the former United States Ambassador to South Africa, having served from 2020 to 2021.

Early life and education

Lana J. Marks was born in East London, South Africa. Her father, Alec Bank, had immigrated from Lithuania as a child; he was an affluent property developer and a leader in the Jewish community.[1] She attended Clarendon High School for Girls in East London, and speaks Xhosa and Afrikaans.[2]

Marks is an avid tennis player, having played for Bermuda, having won bronze medals for the United States in the Maccabiah Games in 1985, playing in the South African Open, and also made it to the qualifying rounds of the French Open.[3][1]

Career

Marks was the CEO and designer of Lana Marks, a fashion accessories brand which specializes in exotic leathers and is known for creating some of the world's most expensive handbags.[6][7][8] When Helen Mirren won an Academy Award in 2007, she carried a handbag designed by Marks to the stage.[1] Her daughter currently runs the brand.[9] The Lana Marks company has stores in Palm Beach, New York, Beverly Hills, and Dubai.[5]

Ambassador to South Africa

Marks’s rumored appointment to the ambassadorship was leaked from a source within the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, South Africa's foreign affairs department.[10] On November 14, 2018, President Donald Trump nominated Marks to be the United States Ambassador to South Africa. Marks had known Trump for more than two decades and was a member of his Mar-a-Lago club.[11] She was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on September 26, 2019.[12] She was sworn into office on October 4, 2019,[13] and arrived at her posting on November 9, 2019, and presented her diplomatic credentials to President Cyril Ramaphosa on January 28, 2020.[14][15]

Marks has been a member of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort since 2010.[16] She was among several Mar-a-Lago members to be chosen by Trump for a role in his administration.[17]

Marks stated that her primary goals include youth and women’s empowerment.[18] During her first sixty days, Marks launched two major initiatives, to invite all of Africa's leaders to a U.S.-Africa investment summit in Washington D.C., and to lift South Africa into a top-20 U.S. trading partner.[15]

Assassination attempt

In September 2020, anonymous U.S. intelligence sources claimed that Iran was planning an assassination attempt on Marks in South Africa. The plot, claimed the sources, was in retaliation for the U.S. drone strike in Baghdad, Iraq, that killed the former commander of Qods Force, Qasem Soleimani, and deputy leader of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces militia, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis on January 3, 2020.[19]

The signing of a letter of intent between the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and NuScale, to develop 2,500 MW of nuclear power in South Africa, was cited as perhaps being one of her most significant accomplishments.[20]

In March 2020, Marks refused to quarantine after being exposed to COVID-19 at an event at Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s club in Florida.[21] In December 2020, Marks spent 10 days in intensive care with Covid-19.[22]

office	United States Ambassador to South Africa
president	Donald Trump
term start	January 28, 2020
term end	January 20, 2021
predecessor	Patrick Gaspard
successor	Reuben Brigety
birth name	Lana Bank
birth date	November 18, 1953
birth place	East London, South Africa
party	Republican
spouse	Neville Marks (m. 1976)
children	2

Early life and education

Career

Ambassador to South Africa

Assassination attempt

Personal life

External links

References