Sterling, Adam H., 1960-

<p>Ambassador Adam Sterling arrived in the Slovak Republic in August 2016.</p>

<p>A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, he served from 2013-2016 as Deputy Chief of Mission and twice as Chargé d' Affaires in the Netherlands. He also served as Deputy Chief of Mission and twice as Chargé d' Affaires in Azerbaijan from 2010-2013. From 2006-2009 he was the Director for Central and Eastern European Affairs on the National Security Council staff at the White House. His other Washington assignments were as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for Europe (2005-06) and as a desk officer in the Office of Central Asian Affairs (1995-97).</p>

<p>His overseas assignments have included tours as a political officer in the U.S. embassies in Israel (2001-05) and Kazakhstan (1998-2001). He also served in political, administrative and consular assignments at the U.S. embassies in Belgium (1993-95) and Peru (1991-93).</p>

<p>Prior to joining the Foreign Service in 1990, Mr. Sterling worked for the Mayor of New York as a liaison to the United Nations and the New York-based foreign consular corps. He earned a Master of Public Policy degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a Bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College in Iowa. He speaks French, Spanish, Russian, Azerbaijani, and Dutch, and is studying Slovak.</p>

<p>Mr. Sterling grew up in New York City and Lawrence, Kansas.</p>

<p>Adam H. Sterling (1960–)<br>
Career Foreign Service Officer<br>
State of Residence: Virginia</p>

<p>Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Slovakia)<br>
Appointed: May 25, 2016<br>
Presentation of Credentials: September 6, 2016<br>
Termination of Mission: August 7, 2019</p>

<p>Adam Sterling, a career member of the Foreign Service, on Dec. 17, 2015, was nominated to be ambassador to Slovakia. If he’s confirmed by the Senate, it will be his first such post.</p>

<p>Sterling is originally from New York, but his family moved to Lawrence, Kansas, while he was in grade school. He graduated from Lawrence High School in 1977 and went to Grinnell College in Iowa, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree. Sterling subsequently earned a Master’s in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.</p>

<p>Before joining the State Department, Sterling worked in New York City as a liaison officer in the mayor’s office to the United Nations and consular corps. He joined the Foreign Service in 1990, with his first posting in Peru. In 1993, Sterling was sent to Belgium, but returned to the United States in 1995 to be a desk officer for Central Asian affairs, a region he would focus on through much of his career.</p>

<p>Sterling was assigned in 1998 as a political officer in Kazakhstan, then in 2001 took a similar post in Tel Aviv, Israel. He returned to Washington in 2005, first as special assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State, then the following year as Director for Central and Eastern European Affairs on the staff of the National Security Council.</p>

<p>In 2010, Sterling returned to Central Asia, this time to Azerbaijan, as Deputy Chief of Mission, serving as chargé d’affaires for a time. Sterling assumed a similar role in The Hague, Netherlands in 2013 and was chargé there from 2013 to 2014 and continued serving there as he was nominated for the Slovakian post.</p>

<p>Sterling’s wife, Veerle Coignez, is Belgian and is an international development consultant on public health concerns. They have a daughter, Elka, and a son, Bram. Sterling speaks French, Spanish, Russian, Azerbaijani and some Dutch.</p>