Dalia Grybauskaitė

Former President of the Republic of Lithuania

Born on 1 March 1956 in Vilnius, Lithuania

Dalia Grybauskaitė is the former President of the Republic of Lithuania. She served as President from 2009 to 2019. She was the country’s first woman President and the only President in Lithuania’s post-Soviet history to have served two consecutive terms.

After the deepening global economic crisis in 2009, Grybauskaitė left her EU post of Commissioner to run as an independent candidate in Lithuania’s presidential election. Touting her extensive experience in finance and economics, she registered an overwhelming victory, capturing more than 69 percent of the vote against just under 12 percent for her nearest rival – the largest-ever margin of victory for a Lithuanian presidential candidate. After taking office in July 2009, Grybauskaitė focused on lifting the country’s economic fortunes.

In May 2014 she won reelection. During the second term, she emphasized Lithuanian military readiness and welcomed a NATO battle group as part of the Alliance’s “enhanced forward presence” in Lithuania.

While serving as European Union Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budgets, she was elected Commissioner of the Year in 2005. She also served as Finance Minister for Lithuania from 2001 to 2004. Dalia Grybauskaitė served as Minister Plenipotentiary in the Lithuanian Mission to the European Union, Deputy Chief Negotiator for Lithuania’s Association Agreement with the European Union, and Minister Plenipotentiary in the Lithuanian Mission to the United States. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she was Director of the Economic Relations Department, responsible for economic diplomacy and development assistance. She also was Chief Negotiator for Lithuania’s Free Trade Agreement with the European Union.

Grybauskaitė holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Economy from Saint Petersburg (Leningrad) State University and a Doctorate in Economics from the Moscow Academy of Public Sciences. She is also Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, at Georgetown University.

Dalia Grybauskaitė remains widely popular with the Lithuanian public after ending her second and final second presidential term in July 2019. She continues to speak widely on women’s leadership, gender equality, sustainable development, economic transparency and accountability.

She serves on a number of advisory boards and commissions, including the Council of Women World Leaders, the Board of Trustees of “Friends of Europe”, and she is Chair of the Council of Patrons for the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University, was Co-chair of the UN High-Level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity (FACTI). She is also a member of the World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid, member of the Friends of Europe’s Ukraine Initiative Steering Group, member of the High-Ranking International Task Force on Security and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine.

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