Lithuania's Vice Defence Minister Giedrimas Jeglinskas has been appointed assistant to NATO's Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg.
"I hope that my global experience in private and public sectors will help implement the needed changes and strengthen the Alliance — Lithuania’s key security guarantee," Jeglinskas said. He is due to take up the position in October, the Ministry of Defence said.
It's the first time a Lithuanian representative will work at the NATO headquarters, according to the ministry.
His responsibility will include managing the institutional NATO changes – human resources policy, budget planning, IT, relations with other organizations in the NATO structure, and daily operation of the NATO headquarters.
Previously, Jeglinskas was appointed charge of procurement and acquisition of the National Defense System (NDS) in February 2017, under Lithuania's Ministry of Defence. The NDS procurement reform was implemented in his tenure — all procurements are now based on long-term planning and priorities of the Lithuanian Armed Forces.
The process management is simplified, transparency and concrete responsibilities were ensured, according to the ministry.
Before this appointment, Jeglinskas was the vice president of the Citigroup Corporate Banking, and corporate finance expert of the same bank in Sidney, Singapore and Tokyo.
Jeglinskas graduated with BSc in Political and Computer Sciences from the US Military Academy West Point (New York), with an MA in National Security Studies from the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University (Washington), and an MBA in Strategy and Finance from the Columbia Business School (New York).
The 40-year old is also a reserve officer of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, previously serving at the Lithuanian Grand Duke Algirdas Mechanised Infantry Battalion in Rukla, and formerly, as a Senior Intelligence Analyst with the Second Investigation Department under the MoD.
