Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir

This is an Icelandic name. The last name is patronymic, not a family name; this person is referred to by the given name Ingibjörg Sólrún.

Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir
Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office 24 May 2007 – 1 February 2009
Prime Minister	Geir Haarde
Preceded by	Valgerður Sverrisdóttir
Succeeded by	Össur Skarphéðinsson
Mayor of Reykjavik
In office 13 June 1994 – 1 February 2003
Preceded by	Árni Sigfússon
Succeeded by	Þórólfur Árnason
Personal details
Born	(1954-12-31) 31 December 1954 Reykjavík, Iceland
Political party	Social Democratic Alliance
Spouse	Hjörleifur Sveinbjörnsson
Children	Two sons (b. 1983, 1985)
Alma mater	University of Iceland University of Copenhagen

Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir (pronounced [ˈiɲcɪpjœrk ˈsoulrun ˈcistlatouhtɪr]) (born 31 December 1954) is an Icelandic politician from the Social Democratic Alliance, formerly Minister for Foreign Affairs 2007–2009 and leader of the Alliance 2005–2009. She is currently the designated representative of UN Women to Turkey and designated regional director for Europe and Central Asia.

Education

Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir was born in Reykjavík on 31 December 1954, the daughter of salesman Gísli Gíslason (born 30 November 1916, died 23 October 2006) and homemaker Ingibjörg J. Níelsdóttir (born 23 February 1918).

She received her bachelor's degree in history and literature from the University of Iceland in 1979. Then she went to Denmark to study as a guest student at the University of Copenhagen. In 1981 she came back to Iceland where she graduated as a cand.mag. in history from University of Iceland in 1983.

Political career

Former Chairman of the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin), then the second largest political party in the Althing (Iceland's parliament), she was appointed foreign minister on 24 May 2007.

Ingibjörg Sólrún started her political career in the Women's List (Samtök um kvennalista), a party she represented in Reykjavík's City Council from 1982 to 1988. She also represented the party in Parliament from 1991 to 1994.

She became Mayor of Reykjavík in 1994 when she led a coalition of four political parties called Reykjavíkurlistinn, winning the elections. She was the city's Mayor until 2003.

In 2005 Ingibjörg Sólrún became the leader of the Alliance after a sharply contested election between her and the previous party leader Össur Skarphéðinsson.

External links

• Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Iceland
• Alþingi biography