Giedrimas Jeglinskas was born on 22 April 1979 in Kaunas, Lithuania.
He is fluent in English, Russian, French, and Polish (in addition to Lithuanian).
He is divorced and has three children.
He is an avid sports enthusiast and enjoys active leisure activities such as basketball, baseball, handball, and downhill skiing. In his free time, he also likes reading books and traveling.
Earned a diploma in Business Administration from Columbia University (USA) in 2010.
Completed a Security Studies program at Georgetown University (USA) in 2005.
Graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point (Political Science) in 2003.
He graduated from the Kaunas University of Technology Gymnasium in 1997 and studied business management at Kaunas University of Technology for two years (1997–1999) before entering West Point.
In 2024, he was a Senior Fellow at the North Atlantic Cooperation Council.
After leaving his NATO post in 2022, Jeglinskas became a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council (Washington, DC) and also collaborated with the Emerson Collective in the United States.
Served as NATO Assistant Secretary General for Organisational Management at NATO Headquarters in Brussels from 2019 to 2022.
Worked as a Vice-President at the Citigroup Inc. bank from 2010 to 2017.
He interned at the New York Stock Exchange in 2009.
Served as an intelligence analyst in the Lithuanian Armed Forces Second Investigation Department during 2006–2008.
Served as a platoon commander in the Algirdas Mechanised Infantry Battalion of the Lithuanian Army (2005–2006).
Elected as a Member of the Seimas (Parliament) in the 2024–2028 term, he has served since 14 November 2024 via the Democratic Union "For Lithuania" party list.
Held the position of Vice-Minister (Deputy Minister) at the Ministry of National Defence of Lithuania from 2017 to 2019.
Became a member of the parliamentary Commission for the Scrutiny of Criminal Intelligence on 10 December 2024.
Appointed as Chair of the Seimas National Security and Defence Committee on 21 November 2024.
In the first round of the 2024 Seimas elections, he ran in the World Lithuanians single-member constituency but did not advance to the runoff – the top two candidates, Aušrinė Armonaitė and Dalia Asanavičiūtė, each received about 29% of the vote, far ahead of Jeglinskas’s total.
In the first round of the 2024 Seimas elections, running in the World Lithuanians (diaspora) single-member constituency, Giedrimas Jeglinskas placed fifth with about 6.57% of the vote (well behind the two frontrunners who each received around 29%).
He did not win the World Lithuanians single-member constituency in 2024 (failing to reach the run-off), but secured a Seimas seat via the Democratic Union "For Lithuania" nationwide list – the party received about 9.2% of the vote and won 8 list mandates.
Received approximately 1.3% of the votes in the first round of the 2024 Lithuanian presidential election.
Nominated as the Democratic Union "For Lithuania" candidate for the 2024 presidential election (first round).
As a rank-and-file Member of the Seimas from late 2024, his monthly salary is about €4,000 "in hand" (net) after recent raises.
According to his 2023 asset declaration (submitted for the 2024 presidential election), Jeglinskas reported €125,000 in registrable property assets, €205,705 in cash savings, and a €65,000 debt, while his income in the previous year was €83,950 (with €8,594.96 paid in income tax).
During his tenure as Vice-Minister of National Defence (2017–2019), his salary was on the order of €2,700–2,800 gross per month (approximately €1,700 net), based on average vice-minister pay levels in 2015 (estimated).
Has shareholdings in Unmanned Defense Systems (UDS), a company that manufactures drones and other military equipment (as reported in 2025).
Joined several interparliamentary friendship groups in December 2024, including groups for relations with Israel, Japan, the United States, South Korea, Ukraine, and Germany.
Member of the Seimas delegation to the Lithuania-Poland-Ukraine Parliamentary Assembly since December 2024.
Serves as Deputy Chair of the parliamentary relations group with Taiwan (Republic of China) in the Seimas, appointed on 21 November 2024.
In August 2024, Jeglinskas invested €20,000 in the drone manufacturing startup Unmanned Defense Systems (UDS), acquiring roughly 0.19% of its shares.
He agreed to join the board of the drone startup UDS in 2024 (leveraging his military/NATO experience), but resigned that board position immediately upon being elected to the Seimas, to avoid any conflict of interest – he also duly disclosed his ~0.19% stake in UDS in his parliamentary private interest declaration.
Joined the Eastern Europe Studies Centre in Vilnius as an Associate Expert on NATO-related topics in January 2023.
In early 2024, the Central Electoral Commission (VRK) examined whether he met the 3-year residency requirement to run for president due to his 2019–2022 NATO posting abroad.
In the VRK’s investigation of his residency in 2024, it was noted that while he worked abroad, his wife (from whom he later divorced), their children, and his mother were residing in Lithuania, and he provided evidence (such as bank transaction records) to show he regularly spent time in Lithuania taking care of family.
During his NATO tenure (2019–2022), he maintained a residence in Vilnius – including owning an apartment for which he continued to pay utilities and other local expenses – underscoring that his life remained anchored in Lithuania even while he worked abroad. This evidence was presented to the Central Electoral Commission to affirm that his ‘center of interests’ was in Lithuania for the constitutional residency requirement.
His appointment in 2019 as NATO Assistant Secretary General (for Executive Management) marked the first time a Lithuanian served in NATO’s senior leadership.
In 2003, he became the first Lithuanian national to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point.
In November 2002, as a West Point cadet, Jeglinskas introduced U.S. President George W. Bush at a youth conference during the NATO summit in Prague, where Bush publicly praised him by name, saying that "West Point is honored that you are studying there, and Lithuania can be proud of you."