Ambassador Adam Sterling served as the Civilian Deputy and Foreign Policy Advisor to U.S. European Command from 2019-2022.  A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, he served from 2016-2019 as the Ambassador to Slovak Republic.

From 2013-2016, he served 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).

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).

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, Dutch, and Slovak. Mr. Sterling grew up in New York City and Lawrence, Kansas. He is married to Veerle Coignez, a native of Belgium and an international development consultant specializing in public health. They have a daughter, Elka, and a son, Bram.