(Washington, DC) Major General Gregg F. Martin, USA, assumed the duties as the 14th President of the National Defense University (NDU) from Ambassador Nancy McEldowney in a Change of Presidency ceremony on the university campus at historic Fort Lesley J. McNair.
General Martin E. Dempsey, USA, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, presided over the Change of Presidency ceremony.
Ambassador Nancy McEldowney, the Senior Vice President of the National Defense University, has served as Interim NDU President since mid-April.
Ambassador McEldowney became the Senior Vice President of the National Defense University on August 1, 2011. Prior to this, she served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, with oversight responsibility for 49 countries in Europe and Eurasia, as well as the NATO alliance, the European Union, and the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Previously, she served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Bulgaria, as well as Deputy Chief of Mission in Ankara, Turkey and Baku, Azerbaijan.
She was Director of European Affairs on the National Security Council staff.
Ambassador McEldowney has been granted the State Department’s Superior Honor Award on five occasions, and is also a recipient of the Sinclair Linguistic Award. She is a member of the Senior Foreign Service.
Major General Gregg F. Martin previously served as 48th Commandant of the Army War College from 2010-12.
A 1979 West Point graduate, he is a career engineer officer who has served globally in peace and war from Platoon Leader to Commanding General (CG).
As a company grade officer, he served from 1980-85 in the Cold War defense of Europe in the 94th and 79th Engineers, 18th Engineer Brigade. Following company command, he earned master’s degrees in Civil Engineering and Technology Policy at MIT from 1986-88.
After serving as a Recruiting and Admissions Officer at West Point from 1988-91, he earned a Masters in National Security Studies at the Naval War College, and also completed his Ph.D. at MIT in Engineering Management and Public Policy with a dissertation on strategic leadership and organizational change (1991-92).