Biography
Micheline Calmy-Rey served as president of Switzerland for two one-year terms, in 2007 and in 2011. She was the second female president of Switzerland, the first being her predecessor, Ruth Dreifnuss. Following her presidency, Calmy-Rey served on the Global Sustainability Panel for the United Nations.
Calmy-Rey was born in Sion in Canton Valais on July 8, 1945. In 1968, she graduated from the Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva. She ran a small book distribution company for 20 years.
Calmy-Rey joined the Geneva Socialist party in 1979 and was its president for two periods. She was a deputy in the Geneva Grand Council. In 1998, she became a member of the Geneva government and took over the finance department. Calmy-Rey was elected to the Federal Council on December 4, 2002. She was head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs from January 1, 2003, to December 31, 2011, when she retired.
Photo by Bundeskanzlei, via Wikimedia Commons. Club de Madrid (n.d.). "Micheline Calmy-Rey" Club de Madrid. Retrieved September 26, 2022. https://clubmadrid.org/who/members/calmy-rey-micheline Council of women world leaders (n.d.). "Micheline Calmy-Rey" Council of women world leaders . Retrieved September 26, 2022. https://www.councilwomenworldleaders.org/micheline-calmy-rey.html Global Leadership Foundation (n.d.). "Micheline Calmy-Rey" Global Leadership Foundation. Retrieved September 26, 2022. https://www.g-l-f.org/who-we-are/glf-members-listed-by-region/micheline….