REPORT FOR THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
SUBJECT: Ambassadorial Nomination: Certificate of Demonstrated Competence — Foreign Service Act, Section 304(a)(4)
POST: Kingdom of the Netherlands
CANDIDATE: Peter Hoekstra
Peter Hoekstra is a prominent politician and business executive who served as a Member of Congress for eighteen years (1993-2011) representing Michigan 2nd District. He was the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (2004-2007) and then the ranking Republican on the Committee until 2011. Mr. Hoekstra continues to be active on public policy issues and in business affairs as a consultant and lobbyist. He was a distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation and also a Shillman Senior Fellow at the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) where he specialized in national security, international relations, and global terrorism. Mr. Hoekstra was the founding chairman of the Congressional Caucus on the Netherlands and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Netherlands American Foundation. His extensive experience in government, his broad engagement on issues of security policy and foreign affairs, and his strong and long-standing interest in building strong ties with the Netherlands make him well qualified to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Currently Mr, Hoekstra is the President of Hoekstra Global Strategies, a business consulting firm in Holland, Michigan. Previously he was a Senior Advisor at the prominent law firms and lobbying groups, Dickstein Shapiro, Washington, D.C. (2011-2014) and Greenberg Taurig, Washington, D.C. (2014 – 2105). He is a director of the Gentex Corporation, Zeeland, Michigan and also served as a Director of the West Michigan Community Bank in Holland, Michigan. Mr. Hoekstra has written on issues of international affairs, intelligence and security including the book, “Architects of Disaster: The Destruction of Libya” in 2015.
Mr. Hoekstra received a B.A. from Hope College, Holland, Michigan (1975) and a M.B.A. from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (1977). He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan, the Hope College Distinguished Alumni Award, and the Order of the House of Orange from the Netherlands.