Ambassador Eric Nelson

Eric Nelson is a member of the United States Senior Foreign Service with over 30 years’ experience in diplomacy, including as the U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina (2019-2022).

Eric previously served as Deputy Executive Secretary and Director of the Executive Office of the Executive Secretariat supporting the Secretary of State’s technology requirements across the globe. Eric also served as Director of the Office of eDiplomacy in the Bureau of Information Resources Management and was selected by Fedscoop magazine as one of fourteen visionary leaders in federal information technology. During his career tenure, he has received numerous awards for effective leadership, innovation and public diplomacy.

Eric is currently the Associate Director of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. As an Ambassador-in-Residence, Eric promotes a whole-of-government perspective to the Marshall Center’s mission to Educate, Engage and Empower security partners and leaders to collectively affect regional, transnational, and global challenges from cyber security to counter-terrorism.

Since joining the Foreign Service in 1990, Eric has also served overseas as Deputy Chief of Mission in Costa Rica and Consul General in Munich, after assignments in Islamabad, Milan, Mexico City, Frankfurt and Santo Domingo. He is fluent in Italian, Spanish and German.

Eric began his career in public service as a Peace Corps Volunteer teaching math and science in Liberia. In 2013-2014, Eric was a fellow in Seminar XXI of the Center for International Studies of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Rice University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas at Austin.