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), 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), 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); 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 (2008); NATO, Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy (2011); 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-)
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); “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