Lana Marks

Lana J. Marks (born November 18, 1953) is a South African-born American business executive who founded the eponymous fashion brand. She is the former United States Ambassador to South Africa, having served from 2019 to 2021.
Early life and education.
Lana Bank was born in East London, South Africa. Her father, Alec Bank, had immigrated from Lithuania as a child; he was an affluent property developer and a leader in the Jewish community. She attended Clarendon High School for Girls in East London, and speaks Xhosa and Afrikaans.
Marks is an avid tennis player, having played for Bermuda, having won bronze medals for the United States in the Maccabiah Games in 1985, playing in the South African Open, and also made it to the qualifying rounds of the French Open.
Career.
Marks was the CEO and designer of Lana Marks, a fashion accessories brand which specializes in exotic leathers and is known for creating some of the world's most expensive handbags. When Helen Mirren won an Academy Award in 2007, she carried a handbag designed by Marks to the stage. Her daughter currently runs the brand. The Lana Marks company has stores in Palm Beach, New York, Beverly Hills, and Dubai.
Ambassador to South Africa.
Marks’s rumored appointment to the ambassadorship was leaked from a source within the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, South Africa's foreign affairs department. On November 14, 2018, President Donald Trump nominated Marks to be the United States Ambassador to South Africa. Marks had known Trump for more than two decades and was a member of his Mar-a-Lago club. She was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on September 26, 2019. She was sworn into office on October 4, 2019, and arrived at her posting on November 9, 2019, and presented her diplomatic credentials to President Cyril Ramaphosa on January 28, 2020.
Marks stated that her primary goals include youth and women’s empowerment. During her first sixty days, Marks launched two major initiatives, to invite all of Africa's leaders to a U.S.-Africa investment summit in Washington D.C., and to lift South Africa into a top-20 U.S. trading partner.
With the onset of COVID-19, and as regional travel restrictions in South Africa limited free travel, Marks coordinated the repatriation flights for over one thousand citizens from four countries in Southern Africa. She then regularly facilitated the successful commercial travel of thousands of additional American citizens.
In September 2020, anonymous U.S. intelligence sources claimed that Iran was planning an assassination attempt on Marks in South Africa. The plot, claimed the sources, was in retaliation for the U.S. drone strike in Baghdad, Iraq, that killed the former commander of Qods Force, Qasem Soleimani, and deputy leader of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces militia, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis on January 3, 2020.
During her time as ambassador, according to press reports, Marks was known for unideological and pragmatic policy decisions, forging strong relationships within the South African government, and mobilizing the Covid-19 response with both equipment and personnel. She emphasized trade, and helped expand U.S. port access for South African citrus; this, coupled with a USDA preclearance of refrigerated citrus, eventually led to a 68% increase in imports. Marks also made achieving HIV epidemic control by 2021, by means of her in-country leadership of PEPFAR, one of her priorities, and helped to facilitate the first visit by a U.S. Navy Ship to South Africa in nearly a decade, expanding ties with the South African Navy. The signing of a letter of intent between the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and NuScale, to develop 2,500 MW of nuclear power in South Africa, was cited as perhaps being one of her most significant accomplishments.
In December 2020, Marks spent 10 days in intensive care with Covid-19. She used the opportunity to thank health care workers, and to urge all South Africans to follow precautions against the virus.
As a Trump political appointee ambassador, she resigned from the office following the inauguration of President Joe Biden on 20 January 2021 and was succeeded by John Groarke as "Charge d'Affaires ad interim".
Personal life.
Marks has been married to Dr. Neville Marks, a practicing psychiatrist affiliated with JFK Medical Center, since 1976. Marks and her husband later lived in Bermuda before moving to Florida in 1987. She has two children.
Marks was a personal friend of Diana, Princess of Wales. According to Marks, the two women had planned a four-day trip to Italy for the end of August 1997. Marks canceled at the last minute when Marks's father had a heart attack. Diana went to Paris with her partner Dodi Fayed where they were killed in a car accident.
Since 2010, Marks has been a member of Mar-a-Lago. According to Marks, she joined because other country clubs in Palm Beach did not admit Jewish members.