James D. “J.D.” Bindenagel, 56, a former United States ambassador with 28 years of experience in the American diplomatic corps, has joined DePaul University as vice president of Community, Government and International Affairs. Bindenagel comes to DePaul from the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, where he was program vice president.

Reporting to DePaul’s office of the president beginning Aug. 22, Bindenagel will oversee the university’s liaisons with international, federal, state and city government officials, as well as community leaders and organizations. He will head a reconfigured department that centralizes the university’s External Relations and Community and Government Relations offices. John Kordek, a former U.S. ambassador who was associate vice president for External Relations, and Tom Fuechtmann, who directed Community and Government Relations, are both retiring this summer.

“J.D. Bindenagel brings extensive governmental and international experience to DePaul,” said the Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., DePaul’s president. “He will continue the fine work of his predecessors to maintain excellent relationships with government leaders by informing them about DePaul initiatives that benefit students and help students afford college educations.”

Noting that DePaul’s reach extends from its main Loop and Lincoln Park Campus to its degree programs in the Czech Republic, Poland, Bangkok and Bahrain, Holtschneider said Bindenagel “will be a vital link between the international community and the university, which has educational partnerships and a network of alumni around the globe. On the local level, he will keep our dialogue and relationships with our neighbors and aldermen strong.”

“This newly configured office connects DePaul to Chicago and the world by strengthening relationships between DePaul’s Chicago and overseas programs and communities,” Bindenagel said. “These local, global and government relationships will further enhance DePaul’s mission to prepare students not only to better understand, but also to influence and shape the world in which they live.”

Bindenagel served the State Department in Germany and Washington, D.C., in various key capacities from 1975 to 2003. He is an expert on U.S. relations with Europe, particularly Germany.

He helped negotiate the reunification of Germany as deputy chief of mission at the American Embassy in Berlin, East Germany, during the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. He later served as director for Central European Affairs in the Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs at the State Department from 1992 to 1994 and as U.S. charge d’affaires and deputy chief of mission in Bonn, Germany, from 1994 to 1997.

In 1999, President Bill Clinton appointed Bindenagel to U.S. ambassador and special envoy for Holocaust education and remembrance issues. In this role, he provided policy, diplomatic and negotiating advice to the Secretary of State involving World War II-era forced labor issues, as well as insurance, art and property restitution issues related to the Holocaust. He played an instrumental role in negotiations that led to the 2001 agreement securing $6 billion in payments from Germany, Austria and France for Holocaust and other Nazi victims. From 2002 to 2003, Bindenagel led a U.S. government negotiation team that banned trade in “conflict” diamonds used to finance rebellions against legitimate governments in Africa.

His diplomatic work has been recognized through numerous awards. He received the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award in 2001, the Commander’s Cross of the Federal Order of Merit from the President of Germany in 2001, the U.S. Secretary of State’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002 and the Presidential Meritorious Service Award from President George W. Bush in 2002.

Joining the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations in 2003, Bindenagel was responsible for the Council’s three main program areas: public programs; corporate and leadership programs; and conferences, research studies and exchanges.

A native of Huron, South Dakota, Bindenagel holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He served as a U.S. Army officer before embarking on his diplomatic career. A father of two, he lives in Chicago with his wife, Jean.