David O'Sullivan (civil servant)

David O'Sullivan
Chief Operating Officer of the EEAS
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 December 2010
Preceded by	None
Director-General of DG RELEX
In office 28 October 2010 – 1 December 2010
President	José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	João Vale de Almeida
Succeeded by	Post abolished
Director-General of DG Trade
In office 10 November 2005 – 28 October 2010
President	José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	Peter Carl
Succeeded by	Jean-Luc Demarty
Secretary General of the European Commission
In office 1 June 2000 – 10 November 2005
President	Romano Prodi José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	Carlo Trojan
Succeeded by	Catherine Day
Personal details
Born	(1953-03-01) 1 March 1953 Ireland
Alma mater	Trinity College, Dublin College of Europe, Bruges

David O'Sullivan (born 1953, Ireland) is the Chief Operating Officer of the European Union's diplomatic corps, the European External Action Service, since 2010. He was the Secretary-General of the European Commission between June 2000 and November 2005.

Early and personal life

He was born in 1953, in Ireland, and is married with two children. He speaks English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese .

O'Sullivan studied Economics and Sociology at Trinity College Dublin. He graduated in 1975, then going to study at College of Europe in Bruges a year later, where he earned a postgraduate Certificate of Advanced European Studies. He then worked at the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs until 1979 when he entered the European Commission. While at Trinity, he was Auditor and debating Gold medalist of the College Historical Society and winner of the Irish Times debating competition.

European Commission

In the Commission, he served as;

• Member of the Directorate General for External Relations. (1979)
• First Secretary in the Delegation of the Commission in Japan. (1981)
• Member for social affairs and relations with the European Parliament in the cabinet of Commissioner Sutherland. (1985)
• Head of task force for Human Resources, Education, Youth and Training. (1989)
• Member for employment policy, the social dialogue and labour law in the cabinet of Commissioner Flynn. (1993)
• Deputy head in the cabinet of Commissioner Flynn. (1994)
• Director-General for policy coordination and the European Social Fund. (1996)
• Director-General for the management of resources. (1998)
• Director-General for Education, Training and Youth. (1999)

Post 1999

At the start of the Prodi Commission he was chief of the President's cabinet, then becoming Secretary-General a year later, taking over from Carlo Trojan.

He was replaced by Catherine Day one year into the Barroso Commission, then becoming Director General for Trade. In the run up to the launch of the EEAS in December of that year he was made director-general of the Directorate-General for External Relations as that was being merged into the EEAS.

Current position

O'Sullivan is the Chief Operating Officer of the European External Action Service (EEAS).

Honours & Awards

He is a Vice-President of the College Historical Society (Trinity College, Dublin)

In 1999 he was named European of the Year by the European Movement Ireland.

He was awarded with an Honorary Doctorate from the Dublin Institute of Technology in 2005 and in 2007 was nominated as Alumnus of the Year by the College of Europe. In 2013, O'Sullivan received his second nomation as Alumnus of the Year, and was awarded with the prize in April.

O'Sullivan is Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, Parma.

External links

Media related to David O'Sullivan at Wikimedia Commons

• Profile ec.europa.eu
• Interview centerdigitalgov.com
• CV, eeas.europa.eu
• College of Europe Alumnus of the Year 2007 College of Europe
• David O'Sullivan - A Day in the Life EU Observer

Political offices
Preceded by Carlo Trojan	Secretary General of the European Commission 2000–2005	Succeeded by Catherine Day