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Kersti Kaljulaid served as the President of the Republic of Estonia from 2016 to 2021. During her time in office, she left a significant mark both domestically and on the international stage. Before her presidency, she was a Member of the European Court of Auditors, advised Prime Minister Mart Laar, and held various high-level positions in the energy, investment banking, and telecom sectors. With degrees in genetic engineering and economy, she has been a member of the Supervisory Board of the Estonian Genome Center and served as the Council Chair of the University of Tartu from 2012 to 2016. In the summer of 2021, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed President Kaljulaid as the Global Advocate for the 'Every Woman Every Child' strategy, focusing on the health and well-being of women, children, and adolescents worldwide for the subsequent two years. She also holds the distinction of being the first Estonian featured on Forbes' list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women. She is a member of several prestigious boards. These include the Munich Security Conference Security Innovation Board and Advisory Council, Yalta European Strategy, the International Advisory Board of the Atlantic Council, the Global Tech Security Commission, the Centre for European Reform, and the GLOBSEC Advisory Council. 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 for human rights, the rule of law, freedom of speech, and democracy. One of her guiding principles during her presidency was articulated during 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."
