States Chiefs

Assumption of the office: March 26, 2000
Date of birth: October 7, 1952
Place of birth: Leningrad
Family status: Married / two daughers

Occupation:

He graduated from the law faculty of Leningrad State University in 1975.

Career:

Upon graduation he was assigned a job in state security bodies. He worked in the German Democratic Republic from 1985to 1990.

 

In 1990, he was Assistant Rector of Leningrad State University on International Affairs, and later on worked as Advisor to the Chairman of the Leningrad City Council.

 

In June 1991, he became Chairman of St. Petersburg City Hall Foreign Relations Committee. From 1994, he combined this job with the position of First Deputy Chairman of St. Petersburg City Government.

 

In August 1996, he became Deputy Property Manager of the President of the Russian Federation.

 

In March 1997, he was appointed Deputy Head of the Russian Federation President Administration, and Director of the Main Control Department of the President of the Russian Federation.

 

In May 1998, he occupied the position of the First Deputy Head of the Russian Federation President Administration.

 

In July 1998, he was appointed Director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, and combined this job since March 1999with the position of the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.

 

In August 1999, he became Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation.

 

On December 31, 1999, he was appointed Acting President of the Russian Federation.

 

On March 26, 2000, he was elected President of the Russian Federation and assumed office on May 7, 2000.

 

On March 14, 2004, he was re-elected President of the Russian Federation for a second term.

 

President Vladimir Putin is also the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Chairman of the State Council.

 

He is a Candidate of Economics and knows German and English.

 

Assumption of the office: 1995
Date of birth: November 29, 1932
Place of birth: Paris
Family status: Married / two daughters

Occupation:

He graduated from the Paris Institute for Political Studies (Institut d'Etudes de Paris), the French National School of Public Administration (Ecole Nationale d'Administration), and Harvard Summer School in the US.
 

Career:

In 1962, he went to work in the Prime Minister's Secretariat.

 

From 1967 to 1968, he worked as State Secretary for Social Affairs, and in 1969 he was State Secretary for Budgetary Affairs to the Minister of Finance.

 

From 1971 to 1972, he served as Minister-Delegate to the Prime Minister.

 

From 1972 to 1973, he headed the Ministry of Agriculture.

 

In 1974, he was the Interior Minister.

 

From 1974 to 1976, and from 1986 to 1989, he held the position of the Prime Minister.

 

Having left this position in 1976, he was elected Chairman of the Rally for the Republic (Rassemblement pour la Republic - RPR).

 

From 1977 to 1995, he was the Mayor of Paris.

 

In 1979-1980, he was a member of the European Parliament.

 

In 1995, he was elected President of France and re-elected for another term in 2002.

 

Jacques Chirac is married and has two daughters.

Assumption of the office: November 2000
Date of birth: July 6, 1946

Place of birth: New Haven, Connecticut
Family status: Married / two daughters

Occupation:

In 1968 he received a bachelor's degree in history from Yale University, and in 1975 he graduated from Harvard Business School as a Master of Business Administration.
 

Career:

From 1968 to 1973, he served as an F-102 fighter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard.

 

From 1975 to 1986, he was involved in the oil business.

 

In 1987-1988, he helped his father to conduct his presidential campaign.

 

From 1989 to 1994, he was a co-owner and manager of the Texas Rangers baseball team.

 

From 1995 to 2001, he was Governor of Texas.

 

In November 2000, he became US President and was re-elected for a second term in 2004.

 

He is married to Laura Bush and has two daughters.

 

Assumption of the office: 1997
Date of birth: May 6, 1953
Place of birth: Edinburgh, Scotland
Family status: Married / three sons and a daughter

Occupation:

In 1976, he graduated from St. John’s College of Oxford University where he studied law. He practiced law in the field of trade union law and labour relations.

Career:

He joined the Labour Party in 1975.

 

In May 1982, he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the House of Commons in Beaconsfield county but received only 10 percent of all votes.

 

In 1983, he was elected to the House of Commons from Sedgefield.

 

In 1984-1994, he was a member of the Shadow Cabinet of the Labour Party. In succession he was in charge of financial and economic issues, trade and industry, power engineering, employment and home affairs.

 

In 1987-1988, he combined his political career with journalism, and worked as a columnist for The Times.

 

After the sudden death of Labour leader John Smith in 1994, Tony Blair headed the Labour Party and became the leader of the parliamentary opposition at the same time.

 

In 1997, he led the Labour Party to a landslide victory in the General Election and became Prime Minister.

 

The Labour Party gained another convincing victory at the General Election in 2001 and 2005.

 

Tony Blair is married to Cherie Blair since 1980 and has three sons and a daughter.

 

Assumption of the office: 2003

Date of birth: January 8, 1942
Place of birth: Kanagawa Prefecture
Family status: Divorced / two sons

Occupation:

He graduated from the economics faculty of the prestigious private Keio University in Tokyo. After graduation he took an economics course in London.
 

Career:

At the age of 30, in 1972, he was elected to the Diet's House of Representatives (Shugi-in) and has been re-elected nine times since then.

 

He occupied the following positions in the Government: Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare.

 

He held a number of important positions in the Liberal-Democratic Party, being a member of its Leading Council, Deputy Chairman of its Policy Board, and its Deputy Secretary-General.

 

In 2001, the Diet elected him as Prime Minister.

 

In 2003, he gained a convincing victory at the elections of the Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party. At the early elections to the Diet's House of Representatives he was re-elected Prime Minister by a vast majority of votes.

 

Mr. Koizumi is divorced and has two sons.

Assumption of the office: May 17, 2006
Date of birth: August 9, 1939
Place of birth: Reggio Emilia, Italy, on August 9, 1939
Family status: Married / two sons

Occupation:

1961: Graduates in law from the Catholic University in Milan.
1963: Graduates from the London School of Economics.
1963-1974: Associate professor, later professor at Bologna University.
 

Career:

1974-1978: Chairman of the Mulino publishing house in Bologna and editor in chief of the Industria magazine.

 

November 1978- March 1979: Italy's Minister for Industry.

 

1981: Establishes Nomisma, an economic research center.

 

1981-1983: Editor in chief of the Energia magazine, a contributor to Correre della Sera, Sole 24 ORE and Resto del Carlino, and visiting professor at Harvard University, U.S.A.

 

1982-1989: Chairman of the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction (IRI), a state holding company.

 

1989-1993: Professor at Bologna University.

 

1993-1994: Chairman of the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction (IRI).

 

1995: Head of the center-left Ulivo (Olive Tree) coalition, which won the 1996 general elections, elected to the Chamber of Deputies from Bologna.

 

1996-1998: Italian Prime Minister.

 

1999-2004: President of the European Commission.

 

March 2005: Chairman of the center-left Union coalition.

 

April 9-10, 2006: Prodi-led coalition wins the parliamentary elections.

 

May 17, 2006: Romano Prodi takes the oath as Prime Minister of Italy.

 

Fluent in English and French.

Assumption of the office: November 22, 2005
Date of birth: July 17, 1954
Place of birth: Hamburg

Family status: Married

Occupation:

1978: graduated with a degree in physics from Karl Marx University in Leipzig.

 

Worked as a researcher in the quantum chemistry department of the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry at the East Berlin Academy of Sciences, German Democratic Republic (DDR), where she attained her doctorate in 1986.  

Career:

1990: deputy spokesperson in the last DDR government.

 

1990: German Bundestag deputy.

 

1991: Federal Minister for Women and Youth.

 

1994-1998: Minister for the Environment and Nuclear Reactor Safety.

 

In 1989, joined the Demokratische Aufbruch (Democratic Awakening) organization. In 1990 joined the Christian Democratic Union. In 1991,  elected deputy Christian Democratic Union chairperson.

 

From 1993 to 2000 headed the CDU branch in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

 

In 1998, became CDU Secretary-General.

 

November 22, 2005: elected German Chancellor.

 

Assumption of the office: January, 2006

Date of birth: April 30, 1959

Place of birth: Toronto
Family status: Married / two children

Occupation:

BA - University of Calgary 1985. MA - University of Calgary 1991
Profession: Economist
 

Career:

1985 - began his political career as Executive Assistant to Jim Hawkes, Progressive Conservative MP.

 

1987- Chief Policy Officer for the Reform Party.

 

1988- Legislative Assistant to Deborah Gray, the Reform Party's first MP.

 

1993- First elected to the House of Commons as the Reform MP.

 

1997- Did not seek re-election to take the post of President of the National Citizens Coalition, a public organization working to protect Canadians' fundamental political and economic freedoms.

 

2002- Elected to the House of Commons and Leader of the Canadian Alliance Party. In this capacity, he led the official opposition till the end of 2003.

 

2004, March 20-Elected Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and opposition leader in the House of Commons.

 

2006, January 23-Led the Conservative Party to victory with a minority government.

Assumption of the office: 2004
Date of birth: March 23, 1956
Place of birth: Lisbon, Portugal
Family status: Married / three children

Occupation:

He graduated from the faculty of law of Lisbon University and from Geneva University where he majored in political sciences and European studies.

Career:

In 1980, Mr. Barroso joined the Social Democratic Party of Portugal.

 

He has been elected to the national parliament six times running since 1985.

 

In 1991, he joined the European movement.

 

In 1995-1996, he chaired the national parliamentary committee on international affairs.

 

In 1996, he was the Director of the International Institute for Support of Democracy and Electoral Assistance.

 

From 1999to 2000, he was Deputy Chairman of the European People's Party.

 

From 2002to 2004, he headed the Government of Portugal.

 

In 2004, he became the Chairman of the European Commission.