Skip Davis is NATO’s Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Defense Investment Division.  He previously served as Director of Operations, U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany, before retiring from the U.S.  Army with more than 37 years of service.  

Mr. Davis was born in Valdosta, Georgia and raised in Florida.  A 1981 graduate with a Bachelor of Science in  Physics from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, he also earned Masters of Arts in International  Business and Defense Studies from the University of Paul Valery in Montpellier, France and a Master of Science  in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania.  

Skip’s professional life has been characterized by operational and institutional military assignments interspersed  with study and practice of international affairs and defense issues, primarily in Europe.  He speaks French and  Italian and has lived over 21 years in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.  He has spent  over 5 years on U.S., NATO and United Nations operations throughout Africa, as well as in Iraq and Afghanistan.  While attending graduate school in France as an Olmsted Scholar, Mr. Davis worked as an intern at the Assembly  of Western European Union in Paris, later renamed the European Security and Defense Assembly.  This  experience was the beginning of a long relationship with NATO and European defense issues, which continued  as a common thread through each of Mr. Davis’s Master theses and led to numerous assignments with NATO  forces and headquarters.    

Commissioned in the infantry Mr. Davis served the first half of his career in rapid deployment airborne and  infantry units in Italy and North Carolina.  This period included service as the S3 (Director of Operations) of an  Italian Alpini Battalion and later Regiment, which was Italy’s contribution to the Allied Command Europe Mobile  Force (Land).  His infantry commands included the 2d Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment in Georgia and the 2d  Brigade,78th Division in New York, the latter which he deployed to Iraq.  Following brigade command, he served  as the Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of Southern European Task Force (Airborne), Vicenza, Italy, during  which time he helped stand up U.S. Army Africa.  He later served in Afghanistan as Chief, Strategic Advisory  Group to Commander, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).  

Mr. Davis served over eight years as a general officer, which included assignments with the Allied Rapid Reaction  Corps, ISAF Joint Command, 1st Cavalry Division, and the Training and Doctrine Command’s Combined Arms  Center and Command General Staff College.  Mr. Davis’ last three assignments included Deputy Chief of Staff  for Operations and Intelligence, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (2013-2015), Commander,  Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (2015-2016, dual-hatted as Deputy Chief of Staff, Security  Assistance for Headquarters, Resolute Support), and Director of Operations J3, U.S. European Command  (2016-2018).  

Chief among his decorations is the Defense Superior Service Medal (four awards), the Legion of Merit (three  awards), the Bronze Star (three awards), the Joint Meritorious Unit Award (four awards), the Italian Bronze Cross,  the Polish Army Silver Medal, and the Afghan Baryan National Medal.     
Mr. Davis and his wife Rita have two daughters, Stefania and Victoria, both of whom completed their  undergraduate degrees in Italy.  Stefania is a Captain in the U.S. Military Intelligence Corps serving at Fort Bragg,  North Carolina, and Victoria is a graduate student completing a MBA in Performing Arts in Paris.