Mrs Kolinda
GRABAR-
KITAROVIĆ

CRO
Entry in the IOC

2020

Born

29 April 1968

Education

Los Alamos High School, New Mexico, USA; Bachelor's degree in English and Spanish and Literature, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb (1993); Specialised Annual Programme in Diplomacy, International Law and Economics, Diplomatic Academy in Vienna, Austria (1996); Master's Degree in International Relations, University of Zagreb (2000); Fulbright scholar, pre-doctoral research in International Relations and Security Policy, George Washington University, USA (2002-2003); Luksic Fellow in Senior Managers, Government Executive Programme, JFK School of Government, Harvard University (2009); Visiting scholar, Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC (2011); completed doctoral studies at the University of Zagreb; currently working on PhD thesis in International Security Studies; Honorary doctorates from the Slovak Matej Bel University for International Relations and Economics, Russian Plekhanov University of Economics, Hungarian Corvinius University of Budapest, and San Pablo University, Argentina

Career

Croatian Ministry of Science and Technology (1992); Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1993-2003), Head of Office of the Deputy Minister (1993-1995), Director of the Department for North America (1995-1997); Counsellor at the Croatian Embassy in Ottawa, Canada (1997-2001), subsequently promoted to Minister-Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission; Minister Counsellor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2001-2003); Elected to the Croatian Parliament and sworn in as Minister of European Integration (2003) and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (2005-2008); led Croatia’s negotiation process on accession to the European Union and NATO until 2008; Chairperson-in-office of the Southeast European Cooperation Process (2006-2007); President of the Ottawa Convention (2005); Vice-President of the UN General Assembly on behalf of Croatia (2006); Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to the USA, co-accredited to Mexico, Panama and the Organization of American States (2008-2011); NATO, Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy (2011-2014); President of the Republic of Croatia (2015-2020)

Other activities

Frequent guest at the United Nations, promoting the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular with respect to peace and security, reducing inequality and increasing opportunities, gender equality and education, energy and environmental protection; Participated in the work of the Arraiolos Group of European Presidents; Launched the Three Seas Initiative with the President of Poland (2015); Co-President of the Brdo-Brijuni process to promote future membership of Western Balkans countries in the EU; Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders (2019); Member of the International Advisory Board of the US Atlantic Council (2020-); Global Ambassador on Immunisation by Women Political Leaders (WPL) (2020-); Chair of the Global Women Leaders Committee of the World Business Angels Investment Forum (2020-); Member of the Board of the Friends of Europe Think Tank (2020-); Special Advisor to the Dean of the Zagreb School of Economics and Management (2021-); Board Member of the Nizami Ganjavi International Centre (2021-); Member of the High-Level Advisory Council for the High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations (UNAOC) (2021-); Fellow at the Sine institute of Policy and Politics at American University, Washington, DC (2021); Member of the International Advisory Council of the GLOBSEC Policy Institute (2021-); Member of the Advisory Board of the Future Security and Defence Council established with a view to provide a contribution to the development of NATO’s New Strategic Concept (2021-)

Awards and distinctions

Isa beg Ishaković international award (2015); EBAN “Visionary Leadership Award” (2016); Collar of Mubarac the Great of the State of Kuwait (2017); National Star of the Republic of Romania (2017); Portuguese Order of Prince Henry (2018); National Flag Medal of the Republic of Albania (2018); Evening News Award (2018); Fulbright Lifetime Achievement award (2019); George Washington University President’s Medal (2020); “Paul Harris Fellow” of the Rotarian Club (2019); Honorary citizen of several cities around the world; Special Recognition for the Development of Inter-Religious Dialogue from Croatia’s Islamic community (2020)

IOC HISTORY

Member (2020-2021) then Chair (2021-) of the Future Host Commission for the Games of the Olympiad; Member of the following commissions: Public Affairs and Social Development through Sport (2020-2021); Public Affairs and Corporate Communications (2022-)