Profile

Meet Jenkins Vangehn

Jenkins Vangehn is Agency Policy Specialist/Legislative Liaison/Data Compliance Official with the Minnesota State Retirement System (MSRS), the premier state retirement agency for public employees in the US State of Minnesota. MSRS has a net asset of over $34 billion with headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota. Jenkins also currently serves as Commissioner for the Recreation and Parks Advisory Commission (RPAC), in the City of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.

Jenkins previously worked for the US Department of State for 19½ years at the US Embassy in Monrovia where he served as Political Assistant (January 2001 – March 2010) and Political Specialist (March 2010 – July 2020). During his time at the US Embassy in Monrovia, Jenkins served under six US Ambassadors and several chargé d’affaires

He drafted the local ceasefire agreement that ended the second Liberian Civil War in August 2003. Jenkins also played a prominent role in rehabilitating and reforming state institutions destroyed during the Liberian Civil War. He worked with the US Treasury Department’s Office for Transitional Initiatives (OTI), the International Contact Group on Liberia (ICGL), Governance Economic Management Program (GEMAP), Security Sector Reform (SSR), etc. Jenkins also helped organize free, fair and democratic elections in 2005, 2011 and 2017.

Jenkins received many honors and awards from the US State Department including the prestigious Global Hero of US Diplomacy Award (2021). Foreign Service National of the Year (2002), Superior Honor Award (2004 and 2011), Meritorious Honor Award (2005, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2018), Eagle Award (2015), Franklin Award (2017), etc. Jenkins was an Edward S. Mason Fellow at John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University from June 2021 – May 2023)

Jenkins holds a Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard University (2022), Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science from the University of Ghana (1998), graduate certificate in Public Leadership, Negotiation, Management and Decision Sciences from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (2022). Jenkins also holds several certificates and diplomas from the George P. Schultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia. He attended the Institute of Management Studies (IMS) Ordinary National Diploma program in Accra, Ghana (1993).