Kersti Kaljulaid
We will win. But for us to safely mine the technology pool created by the great minds of our private sector companies, we have to have standards, agreements. Nobody must be able to blow up what we trust in technology, and for that indeed we need the Global Tech Security Commission.
I am never silent when our security is in question, when our freedoms are at stake or when those weaker than us are treated unjustly.
Kersti Kaljulaid
Chairman and Co-Founder
Recognition
Over the years, President Kaljulaid has been awarded a variety of honorary titles and state decorations in Estonia and internationally.
Titles
2009
European of the Year (Estonia)
2014
Concord Award (Estonia)
2016
Most Influential Person of the Year (Estonia)
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2017
Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women (USA)
2018
Honorary doctorate from Ewha Womans University (South Korea)
2018
Honorary citizen of the City of Seoul (South Korea)
2019
Friend to the Press (Estonia)
2019
Bee Supporter of the Year (Estonia)
2020
Rainbow Warrior (Estonia)
2020
1st-class award of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Estonia)
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2020
Johan Skytte medal (Estonia)
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2020
Honorary doctorate from Hanken School of Economics (Finland)
Decorations
2016
Order of the National Coat of Arms Chain (Estonia)
2017
Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose with Chain (Finland)
2018
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Lion (The Netherlands)
2018
Knight Grand Cross with Collar (Italy)
2019
Order of the Three Stars Commander Grand Cross with Chain (Latvia)
2019
Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry with Chain (Portugal)
2019
Order of Merit (Slovenia)
2021
Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 1st Class (Ukraine)
Biography
President of Estonia 2016-2021. United Nations Secretary-General's Global Advocate for Every Woman Every Child since 2021. Mother of four and grandmother of four. Speaks Estonian, English, French, Russian, Finnish. Born in 1969 in Estonia.
Kersti Kaljulaid served as the President of the Republic of Estonia from 2016-2021. During her time in office, she made her presence felt in both her homeland and the international arena.
Previously she had been serving as a Member of the European Court of Auditors, advising Prime Minister Mart Laar and holding diferent top level positions in energy, investment banking and telecom sector. Genetic engineer and economist by education, she has been a member of the Supervisory Board of the Estonian Genome Center and the Council Chair of the University of Tartu from 2012 to 2016.
In summer 2021, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed President Kaljulaid to the position of Global Advocate for the ‘Every Woman Every Child’ strategy on the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents around the world for the next two years. She was also the first Estonian to be featured in the Forbes World's 100 Most Powerful Women. Kersti Kaljulaid has become a sought-after speaker at high-level forums on digital, security and foreign-policy topics and more broadly for analysing and interpreting societal and economic change.
President Kaljulaid is a vocal advocate of human rights, rule of law, freedom of speech and democracy. One of the principles in the in office of president has been the one she set out upon her inauguration: “I am never silent when our security is in question, when our freedoms are at stake or when those weaker than us are treated unjustly.
President of Estonia
Chairman of the Three Seas
Chairman of the Board of Tartu University
