Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2021 | |
| Minister for Foreign Affairs | |
| Assumed office 21 December 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | Kristrún Frostadóttir |
| Preceded by | Þórdís Kolbrún R. Gylfadóttir |
| Leader of Viðreisn | |
| Assumed office 12 October 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Benedikt Jóhannesson |
| Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture | |
| In office 11 January 2017 – 30 November 2017 | |
| Prime Minister | Bjarni Benediktsson |
| Preceded by | Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson |
| Succeeded by | Kristján Þór Júlíusson |
| Minister of Education, Science, and Culture | |
| In office 31 December 2003 – 1 February 2009 | |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | Tómas Ingi Olrich |
| Succeeded by | Katrín Jakobsdóttir |
| Member of theAlthing | |
| Assumed office 29 October 2016 | |
| Constituency | Southwest |
| In office 8 May 1999 – 27 April 2013 | |
| Constituency | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1965-10-04)4 October 1965 (age 60) Reykjavík, Iceland |
| Political party |
|
| Spouse | Kristján Arason |
| Children | 3, includingGísli |
| Alma mater | University of Iceland |
Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir (born 4 October 1965) is an Icelandic politician, who has been chairwoman ofViðreisn since 2017.[1]
Þorgerður was deputy chairwoman of theIndependence Party from 2005 to 2010. She was theMinister of Education, Science and Culture from 31 December 2003 to 1 February 2009. From 2006, Þorgerður served as acting Prime Minister in the absence ofGeir Haarde,[2] including during his 2009 cancer treatment.[3] She left the Independence Party in 2016 and joined the newly foundedViðreisn and became its chairman the following year. She wasMinister of Fisheries and Agriculture in 2017.
Þorgerður Katrín tookstúdentspróf from Menntaskólanum við Sund in Reykjavík 1985. In her final year she was elected Chairman (Ármaður) of the School Association as the second woman to serve in this position. She subsequently studied law at theUniversity of Iceland and served as a board member in Orator, the Law Students' Society.
After graduating with aMaster of Law degree in 1993 Þorgerður Katrín began her career as a solicitor in a law firm at Höfðabakki. From 1997 to 1999 she was director of the Social and Current Affairs Department at theNational Broadcasting Service. She worked for the Icelandic Chamber of Commerce during her break from politics 2013 to 2016.
During her time at university she served as a board member in Stefnir, the local Independence Party youth organization inHafnarfjörður, and vice-president of the executive committee of the Board of Representatives of the Independence Party in Hafnarfjörður.
She was elected to the Althing in 1999 for theconstituency ofReykjanes and from 2003 (when the Reykjanes constituency was abolished) for theSouthwest constituency.
Þorgerður Katrín was Minister of Education in Geir Haarde's government from 2003 to 2009 and functioned as de facto Prime Minister during the crash due to his illness. She served as deputy chairman of theIndependence Party 2005 to 2010. Þorgerður Katrín resigned as deputy chairman on 17 April 2010 after being criticised for the handling of her and her husband Kristján Arason's debts in Kaupthing Bank, which collapsed in October 2008. She subsequently took leave of absence from parliament and chose not to run for reelection in the2013 election.
She joined Viðreisn shortly after it was founded in 2016 and was elected to the Althing for them in the2016 election. Þorgerður Katrín subsequently became Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture in the short-lived government ofBjarni Benediksson.[4][5] During the 2017 election campaign her party fell below the threshold in multiple polls and its founderBenedikt Jóhannesson therefore decided to step down as chairman in favour of Þorgerður.
Following the2024 snap election, her party formed a government with theSocial Democratic Alliance and thePeople's Party, in which she was appointed minister for foreign affairs.[6]
Þorgerður's father wasGunnar Eyjólfsson, an actor, who was born on 24 February 1926 and died on 21 November 2016. Her husband isKristján Arason who was CEO of Retail Banking atKaupthing Bank and previously one of Iceland's most successfulhandball players. Þorgerður Katrín and Kristján have three children, Gunnar Ari (1995),Gísli Þorgeir (1999) and Katrín Erla (2003).[7]
At the time of theIcelandic financial crisis her husband owed Kaupthing bank just under 900 million ISK which he had borrowed to purchase shares in the bank. The debt was never repaid, as the board of Kaupthing allowed their executives to transfer their loans and shares into privateholding companies a few months before the bank was taken over by the Icelandic authorities. These companies subsequentlydefaulted.
Þorgerður playedhandball in the 1980s, first withÍR and later withFH where she won theIcelandic Cup in 1984. She later played forVfL Gummersbach in Germany. Following her playing career, she became a handball referee. In November 1993, she became the first female referee to referee a match in theIcelandic top-tier women's league.[8][9][10][11] In February 1994, she became the first woman to referee in the Icelandictop-tier men's league.[12]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Education, Science and Culture 2003–2009 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture 2017 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Foreign Affairs 2024–present | Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader ofViðreisn 2017–present | Incumbent |
Acting defense ministers shown initalics |
