Vaira Vike-Freiberga was President of Latvia from 1999 to 2007 (re-elected in 2003 by the Latvian Parliament). She was President of Club de Madrid from 2014 to 2019, and currently serves on the Board of Directors.
She was Special Envoy on the United Nations reform and official candidate for UN Secretary General in 2006, Vice-chair of the Reflection group on the long-term future of Europe, and Chair of the High-level group on freedom and pluralism of media in the EU in 2011-12, as well as a member of two High-level groups on European security and defence in 2015 and of the Team of Advisors to UN ECOSOC on UN development in 2016.
Dr. Vike-Freiberga is a former professor and interdisciplinary scholar at the University of Montreal, has published 17 books and over 200 articles, in addition to her extensive speaking engagements. She is member of 26 international organisations and five Academies, as well as Honorary Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford University. After a distinguished career as Professor of psychology and international scholar at the University of Montréal, she returned to her native country in 1998 to head the Latvian Institute.
Ms Vike-Freiberga is currently Co-chair of the Nizami Ganjavi International Centre, 2020-2021 member of the UNESCO International Commission on the Futures of Education and member of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission. She is fluent in English, French, Latvian, Spanish and German.
