List of NATO Secretaries General

The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is the chairman of the North Atlantic Council, the supreme decision-making organisation of the defence alliance. The Secretary General also serves as the leader of the organisation's staff and as its chief spokesman. In addition to these official responsibilities, the Secretary General must maintain close relations with the head of state of each NATO country, and work both formally and informally with other diplomats to deal with issues facing the alliance.

As a matter of tradition, the post of Secretary General is held by a European. This structure is intended to balance the influence of the United States, which appoints the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, NATO's most senior military officer. The Secretary General is selected by consensus among the NATO member states. There is no formal process for the selection; instead, diplomats from the NATO states informally discuss the matter until a candidate is selected. The Secretary General typically serves for a four-year term, but he or she may be asked to serve for a fifth year or longer, with the consensus of the member states.

The current Secretary General is Jens Stoltenberg, who took office on 1 October 2014.

The NATO countries selected the first Secretary General on April 4, 1952. Since that time, twelve different diplomats have served officially as Secretary General. They are chosen from eight countries (three from United Kingdom, three from the Netherlands, two from Belgium, one from Italy, one from Germany, one from Spain, one from Denmark and one from Norway). The position has also been occupied temporarily on three occasions by an acting Secretary General in between appointments.

...
Wikipedia