Kersti Kaljulaid was the President of the Republic of Estonia from 2016-2021.

Prior to her leadership role, Kersti was a Member of the European Court of Auditors where she advised Prime Minister Mart Laar and held varying high-level positions across energy, investment banking and telecom.

With a background in genetic engineering and economics, Kersti has been a Member of the Supervisory Board of the Estonian Genone Centre and the Council Chair of Tartu from 2012 to 2016. In 2021, she was appointed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as as the Global Advocate of the ‘Every Woman Every Child’ strategy which focuses on the wellbeing of women, children and adolescents across the world. She is a vocal advocate of human rights, rule of law, freedom of speech and democracy.

In 2017, she became the first Estonian to be featured in the Forbes World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.

Today, Kersti is part of the Munich Security Conference Advisory Board. She also speaks internationally on issues including security, foreign policy, digital and societal and economic change.