Toomas Hendrik Ilves
Toomas Hendrik Ilves
President of the Republic of Estonia

President Ilves was born on December 26, 1953, in Stockholm, Sweden. President Ilves graduated from Columbia University and received his Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. Toomas Hendrik Ilves was a teacher and researcher at Columbia University in New York City and at the Open Education Center in Englewood, New Jersey. He worked as a researcher and Head of the Estonian Desk at Radio Free Europe in Munich, Germany. He served as Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to the United States of America, Canada, and Mexico from 1993 until 1996. From 1996 to 1998, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia. After a brief periood as Chairman of the North Atlantic Institute (1998), he was again appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. From 2002 until 2004, he was a Member of the Parliament of the Republic of Estonia, and from 2004 until 2006, he was Member of the European Parliament. Toomas Hendrik Ilves was elected President of the Republic of Estonia on September 23 and sworn into office on October 9, 2006.