Alexander R. Vershbow
| Alexander Vershbow | |
|---|---|
Alexander Vershbow in 2005
|
|
| Deputy Secretary General of NATO | |
|
In office February 2012 – October 2016 |
|
| Preceded by | Claudio Bisogniero |
| Succeeded by | Rose Gottemoeller |
| Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs | |
|
In office April 2009 – February 2012 |
|
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Mary Beth Long |
| Succeeded by | Derek Chollet |
| United States Ambassador to South Korea | |
|
In office October 2005 – October 2008 |
|
| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Christopher R. Hill |
| Succeeded by | Kathleen Stephens |
| United States Ambassador to Russia | |
|
In office 2001–2005 |
|
| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | James Franklin Collins |
| Succeeded by | William Joseph Burns |
| United States Ambassador to NATO | |
|
In office November 10, 1997 – July 9, 2001 |
|
| President |
Bill Clinton George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Robert E. Hunter |
| Succeeded by | R. Nicholas Burns |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
July 3, 1952 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Yale College, Columbia University |
| Awards |  |
Alexander Russell "Sandy" Vershbow (born July 3, 1952) is an American diplomat and former Deputy Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
From October, 2005 to October, 2008, he was the United States Ambassador to South Korea. Before that post he had been the ambassador to the Russian Federation from 2001 to 2005 and the ambassador to NATO from 1998 to 2001. For his work with NATO he was awarded the State Department's Distinguished Service Award.
In March, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Vershbow as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, a position that holds responsibility for U.S. policy toward NATO, coordination of U.S. security and defense policies relating to the nations and international organizations of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He was confirmed in April, 2009. After almost three years with the U.S. Department of Defense, in February 2012, Vershbow moved back to Brussels where he took the position of Deputy Secretary General of NATO, becoming the first American to hold the position.
Vershbow was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended the Buckingham Browne & Nichols School before moving on to Yale College, from which he graduated in 1974 in Russian and East European Studies. He earned an MA at Columbia University in 1976 in International Relations and Certificate of the Russian Institute. He learned to play the drums at a young age and kept up his passion abroad including occasionally playing in bands with other Ambassadors while on foreign assignments.
Vershbow was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council (1994–97). He was the first recipient of the Department of Defense’s Joseph J. Kruzel Award for his contributions to peace in the former Yugoslavia (1997).
...
Wikipedia