Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović

Biography

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović is a global leader, diplomat, former head of state, and internationally recognised authority on geopolitics, leadership and international cooperation. She served as the fourth President of the Republic of Croatia, becoming the first woman elected to the office. Before her presidency, she served as Croatia's first female Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Ambassador to the United States, and NATO's first female Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, becoming the highest-ranking woman in the alliance at that time.

President Grabar-Kitarović's career has been shaped by profound geopolitical change: the end of war in Southeast Europe, Croatia's transformation and accession to NATO and the EU, NATO's engagement in Afghanistan, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and recent concerns over security, technology and democratic resilience. As Minister of European Integration, she led Croatia's EU accession negotiations and contributed to NATO integration and regional stability. She participated in the Dayton Peace Process and has shared Croatia's post-conflict experience, including justice, reconciliation, institution-building and Euro-Atlantic integration, with partners from Afghanistan, Iraq and Ukraine.

At NATO, President Grabar-Kitarović transformed the Public Diplomacy Division during a period of austerity and rising scepticism towards the alliance. She spent time in Afghanistan, administering the Virtual Silk Road programme, which brought high-speed internet to Afghan institutions, and with particular emphasis on opportunities for women. She also co-presided over the Brdo-Brijuni Process supporting stability in the Western Balkans and, with President Duda of Poland, launched the Three Seas Initiative, now one of Europe's most important strategic frameworks for energy diversification, infrastructure and resilience. Whilst as President, she championed modernisation, demographic renewal, education, digitalisation, gender equality and equal opportunity. She worked constructively with world leaders across geopolitical divides, including Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.

With insights shaped by direct experience negotiating major international agreements and making difficult compromises at the highest levels President Grabar-Kitarović considers the modern nature of global relationships and change. From shifts in influence to European security architecture, NATO and the transatlantic relationship. She discusses the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war, defence and deterrence, cybersecurity and hybrid threats. More broadly, she shares her lessons in leadership and decision-making under pressure, reconciliation, strategic communication, digital transformation, as well as global health preparedness, and sport diplomacy.

President Grabar-Kitarović co-chairs the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board and has co-authored articles in The Lancet on pandemic preparedness. She is an Independent Member of the International Olympic Committee and Chair of the Future Host Commission for the Games of the Olympiad. She currently serves on the Atlantic Council International Advisory Board, Jacques Delors Friends of Europe Foundation, Halifax International Security Forum, GLOBSEC International Advisory Council, Future Security and Defence Council, and the High-Level Advisory Council for the UN Alliance of Civilizations. She is Chair Emerita of the Council of Women World Leaders and Global Ambassador for Immunization for Women Political Leaders. She is President and CEO of KGK Advising & Professional Services. She has also taught at the Vienna Diplomatic Academy, George Washington, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins Universities, the University of Zagreb, Zagreb School of Economics and Management, American University's Sine Institute of Policy and Politics, and the NATO Defence College Rome. A Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, she has received numerous international honours including honorary doctorates and national decorations. She speaks Croatian, English, Spanish and Portuguese fluently, with working knowledge of several other European languages - a reflection of a career spent not only speaking across borders, but listening across cultures.