Tim Lenderking is the deputy assistant secretary of state for Arabian Gulf affairs in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. He is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. Lenderking served previously as the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 2013-16, and  director of the Pakistan Office from 2010-13.

From 2008-10, Lenderking completed two tours in Baghdad, the first as the senior democracy advisor at the U.S. Embassy and the second as the policy advisor to Lieutenant General Charles Jacoby, commanding general of Multinational Forces Iraq, based at Camp Victory. Before his Iraq tours, Lenderking served as the economic counselor and acting deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait. He was also the political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Rabat from 2002-06. Lenderking’s other tours in the foreign service include serving as the special assistant to Undersecretary for Political Affairs Marc Grossman in 2001-02, the Lebanon desk officer in 2000-01, and a watch officer in the Operations Center. Lenderking also served in Dhaka, Bangladesh and in Damascus, Syria.

Lenderking joined the foreign service in 1993 after a career in the refugee field in which he held numerous positions with U.S. nongovernmental organizations and with the United Nations in New York, Sudan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Thailand. Lenderking received a master’s degree in history and international relations from the University of Washington in 1989 and a bachelor’s degree with honors from Wesleyan University in 1985. He is the recipient of nine superior honor awards from the Department of State and the Meritorious Civilian Service Award from the Department of the Army for his service in Iraq.