European Commission appoints new Directors-General to lead its departments for Informatics and for Interpretation, names three Deputy Directors-General

Source: European Commission (EC) i, published on Tuesday, April 12 2016.

Today, the European Commission appointed Ms Gertrud Ingestad as Director-General of its department for Informatics (DG DIGIT) and Ms Florika Fink-Hooijer as Director-General of its department for Interpretation (DG SCIC).

The Commission also appointed three Deputy Directors-General: Ms Maive Rute to its Joint Research Centre (DG JRC), Mr Maciej Popowski to its department for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), and Mr Patrick Child to its department for Research and Innovation (DG RTD).

"With today's appointments the Commission is taking a further step towards President Juncker's 40% target of senior female management. I am happy to see that so many excellent women are working at the highest levels of the Commission, and encouraging other women to do the same," said Kristalina Georgieva, Commission Vice-President for Budget and Human Resources. "But our job on this is not yet done and the President and I will continue to push for the promotion of female talent across the Commission."

The new appointments mean that 26% of the Commission's top managers (Directors-General and Deputy Directors-General) are now women, up from 13% in November 2014, when the Juncker Commission took office.

Ms Gertrud Ingestad, a Swedish national, takes up her post on 16 April. She joined the European Commission in 1995, became a Head of Unit in 1997, and went on to hold management positions ever since. While serving as Head of Unit for Learning and Development in the Directorate-General for Translation between 2008 and 2011, she served as Acting Resource Director in the same department. In March 2011, she took up the resource management of DG Information Society and Media, to become the Resource Director of the reformed DG for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (CNECT) in 2012. As of 2014, she has been DIGIT's Director for Digital Business Solutions and acting Director-General since the beginning of 2016.

Ms Florika Fink-Hooijer takes up her post on 1 June. She is a German national who has been working for the European Commission since 1990. Between 1995 and 2000, she worked in the Cabinets of Commissioner Monika Wulf-Mathies (in charge of Regional Policy) and Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, responsible for Internal Market and Financial Services. Between 2000 and 2010, she was a Head of Unit, first in Directorate-General (DG) RELEX (the predecessor of the European External Action Service) and then in the Secretariat-General. In 2010, she headed the Cabinet of Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva during her term as International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Commissioner. In 2012, she became Director in the Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection.

Ms Maive Rute, an Estonian, takes up her post on 16 April. She joined the European Commission in 2005 to become Director for the Promotion of SMEs, Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship in DG Enterprise and Industry. She brought in her extensive management experience in the Estonian public sector, notably three years spent as a Managing Director of the Rural Credit Guarantee Fund and five years as CEO of the Estonian Credit and Export Guarantee Fund KredEx. In the Commission, Ms Rute also worked as Director for Biotechnologies, Food and Agriculture Research and as a Resource Director in DG Research and Innovation, a job she is currently holding.

Mr Maciej Popowski, a Polish national, takes up his post on 16 April. He joins the Commission from the European External Action Service, where he served as Deputy Secretary-General between 2011 and 2015. His previous assignments include Head of Cabinet of the European Parliament's President Mr Jerzy Buzek, Director in the European Commission's department for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEV). Between 1991 and 2008, he worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, taking up different jobs in the administration and in its missions in Brussels and The Hague.

Mr Patrick Child, a British national, takes up his post on 16 April. He joined the European Commission in 1994 from the UK Treasury and spent most of his career dealing with external relations and foreign policy. After several years as a spokesperson for Economic and Monetary Affairs, he worked in the Cabinet, including as Head of Cabinet, of external relations Commissioner Chris Patten between 1999 and 2004 and was Head of Cabinet for Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood policy during her full term of office 2004-2010. He then joined the European External Action Service, first as a Director and then, as of January 2011, as a Managing Director for Administration and Finance. He has been acting as its Chief Operating Officer/Director-General for Budget and Administration since November 2014.

More information:

CVs of the European Commission's top managers

IP/16/1347

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