Brian H. Hook is a former U.S. diplomat and attorney with a distinguished career in government, law, and consulting. He earned a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, a master's degree in philosophy from Boston College, and a law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law. Early in his career, he served as a legislative aide to U.S. Congressman James A. Leach and deputy legislative liaison for Iowa Governor Terry Branstad. From 1999 to 2003, he practiced corporate law at Hogan & Hartson in Washington, D.C. During the George W. Bush administration, Hook held senior roles including Counsel in the Office of Legal Policy at the Department of Justice (2003-2004), Special Assistant to the President for Policy in the White House Chief of Staff’s office (2004-2006), Senior Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (2006-2008), and Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (2008-2009), where he negotiated UN Security Council sanctions on Iran, Sudan, Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban. From 2009 to 2017, Hook founded and managed Latitude, LLC, an international strategic consulting firm in Washington, D.C. He served as foreign policy director for Governor Tim Pawlenty’s 2010-2011 presidential campaign and senior advisor on foreign policy for the Mitt Romney campaign, chairing the Romney Readiness Project's foreign policy and national security task forces. In the Trump administration, after directing the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff (2017-2018), he became U.S. Special Representative for Iran and Senior Policy Advisor to Secretaries Rex Tillerson and Mike Pompeo (2018-2020), leading the Iran Action Group and playing a central role in the administration's 'maximum pressure' campaign against Iran, while also advancing the Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy, strengthening U.S.-India ties, and contributing to the Abraham Accords. Since 2021, he has been Vice Chairman of Cerberus Global Investments, LLC. Hook is married with three children and is Catholic. Recent reports indicate he may lead the State Department transition team for a potential second Trump administration.