Alexander Vershbow

Alexander Vershbow

Alexander Russell "Sandy" Vershbow (born July 3, 1952) is the Deputy Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and an American.

Until October 2008, he was the United States Ambassador to South Korea; he was appointed to the position in October 2005. 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.