Anders Fogh Rasmussen is a Danish politician who was the 24th Prime Minister of Denmark from November 2001 to April 2009 and the 12th Secretary General of NATO from August 2009 to October 2014. He became founder of political consultancy Rasmussen Global and founded the Alliance of Democracies Foundation. He serves as a senior adviser to Citigroup. He also served as a senior advisor at the Boston Consulting Group.
Jakob Gijsbert "Jaap" de Hoop Scheffer is a Dutch retired politician, jurist and diplomat who served as the eleventh Secretary General of NATO from January 2004 to August 2009. A member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), which he led from March 1997 to October 2001, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from July 2002 until December 2003 under Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.
The Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) is the military headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) that commands all NATO operations worldwide. SHAPE is situated in the village of Casteau, near Mons, Belgium.
Manfred Hermann Wörner was a German politician and diplomat. He served as the defense minister of West Germany between 1982 and 1988. He then served as the seventh Secretary General of NATO from 1988 to 1994. His term as Secretary General saw the end of the Cold War and the German reunification. Whilst serving in that position, he was diagnosed with cancer, but, in spite of his illness, continued serving until his final days.
Anna Elżbieta Fotyga is a Polish politician who currently serves as a Member of the European Parliament, and is the Secretary-General of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party. She has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, in the successive cabinets of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz and Jarosław Kaczyński (2006–2007) and Chief of the Chancellery of the President (2007–2008).
Dan Mircea Geoană is a Romanian politician and diplomat, who served as the deputy secretary general of NATO between 2019 and 2024. He previously served as president of the Senate of Romania from December 2008 until he was revoked in November 2011. From April 2005 until February 2010, he was the head of the Social Democratic Party.
Radmila Šekerinska Jankovska is a Macedonian politician who has been serving as the Deputy Secretary General of NATO since November 2024. Previously she served as the defense minister of North Macedonia and a former leader of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM). Šekerinska was previously Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration and National Coordinator for Foreign Assistance of North Macedonia and also was the acting Prime Minister of North Macedonia from 12 May 2004 until 12 June 2004 and from 3 November 2004 until 15 December 2004. She was elected 5 November 2006 the SDUM leader. She is the first female (acting) prime minister of North Macedonia.
The Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) is the commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) and head of ACO's headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). The commander is based at SHAPE in Casteau, Belgium. In effect, SACEUR is the second-highest military position within NATO, below only the Chair of the NATO Military Committee in terms of precedence. There is another Supreme Allied Commander in NATO, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT), titularly equal, but whose duties are less operational. SACT, in Norfolk, Virginia, has responsibility for capability development rather than operations.
Sergio Silvio Balanzino was an Italian diplomat.
Alexander Russell "Sandy" Vershbow is an American diplomat and former Deputy Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Yaşar Yakış was a Turkish politician. He was a Foreign Minister, and an ambassador to the UN Office in Vienna, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. From 2002 to 2011 he represented Düzce as an MP in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. He was a member of the Justice and Development Party, the leading political party in Turkey at the moment and he was the chair of the European Union Harmonization Committee of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. He received the French Légion of Honour.
James Blair Cunningham is an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan.
Daniel Vern Speckhard is an American diplomat and nonprofit executive. Speckhard is the president and CEO of Corus International, an ensemble of faith-based organizations including Lutheran World Relief and IMA World Health, and is a former United States Ambassador to Greece and Belarus. In addition to his diplomatic and nonprofit service, Speckhard has worked as a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and is currently a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
Grigory Alekseevich Rapota is a Russian politician who currently serves as a Senator from the executive authority of Kursk Oblast. Prior to his appointment, he was the special representative of the Russian president in the Volga Federal District between 2008 and 2011. Before that he was the special representative of the Russian president in the Southern Federal District. He has the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation.
The Chair of the NATO Military Committee (CMC) is the head of the NATO Military Committee, which advises the North Atlantic Council (NAC) on military policy and strategy. The CMC is the senior military spokesperson of the 32-nation alliance and principal advisor to the Secretary General. The chair is one of the foremost officials of NATO, next to the Secretary General and the Supreme Allied Commander Europe. The CMC is assisted by the deputy chair, who advises the Deputy Secretary General and serves as the principal agent for coordination of nuclear, biological, and chemical matters for the Military Committee. Originally titled the Chairman, the post was redesignated in 2021 to reflect the gender-neutrality of the post.
The secretary general of NATO is the chief civil servant of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an intergovernmental military alliance with 32 member states. The officeholder is an international diplomat responsible for coordinating the workings of the alliance, leading NATO's international staff, chairing the meetings of the North Atlantic Council and most major committees of the alliance, with the notable exception of the NATO Military Committee, as well as acting as NATO's spokesperson. The secretary general does not have a military command role; political, military and strategic decisions ultimately rest with the member states. Together with the chair of the NATO Military Committee and the supreme allied commander, the officeholder is one of the foremost officials of NATO.
John James Maresca is an Italian-American diplomat, business leader, and educator. Maresca has held a number of posts in the US government including deputy assistant secretary of defense and US ambassador. He has also founded, led, and contributed to a number of prominent NGOs and private sector companies. He served as rector of the United Nations-mandated University for Peace (UPEACE) in Costa Rica until February 2013.
Evangelos Basiakos was a Greek politician in the New Democracy party, Member of Parliament for Boetia and Minister for Rural Development and Food.
Wayne J. Bush is an American diplomat who was Assistant Secretary General for Executive Management at NATO in 2013.
Armenia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have maintained a formal relationship since 1992, when Armenia joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council. Armenia officially established bilateral relations with NATO in 1994 when it became a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme. In 2002, Armenia became an Associate Member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
