Nicholas Greanias
Nicholas “Nick” Greanias is a foreign policy professional whose career spans law, international diplomacy, and religious ministry. He was commissioned as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State, with overseas diplomatic assignments in Toronto, Budapest, Athens, and Auckland, where he served as consul. In Washington, he also worked as the Ukraine desk officer and in the State Department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs.
While stationed in Auckland, Nick fulfilled a long-held ambition to unite his professional career with his faith. In 2009, he was ordained to the priesthood in the Greek Orthodox Church. He became a practitioner of “tentmaking”—a tradition in which clergy maintain secular employment while carrying out pastoral ministry. In Auckland, he balanced his diplomatic responsibilities at the U.S. Consulate with leading the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity.
Before entering the Foreign Service, Nick trained as an attorney and was commissioned as a U.S. Army officer. He served as a military attorney in the Army Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps and later practiced law in Chicago before transitioning to a career in international relations.
Born to Greek immigrant parents, Nick grew up in Decatur, Illinois, where he was immersed in both American civic life and the traditions of the Greek Orthodox Church. As a youth, he served as an altar boy at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation before pursuing higher education with a focus on law and the classics.
Nick and his wife, Mary, share a passion for the performing arts and are active in musical theater and drama. A baritone singer, Nick also maintains a lifelong interest in sports.