Then: Worked in the Industry DG of the European Commission

Later: Secretary General of the European Commission

When Irish-born Catherine Day participated in a 1982 Salzburg session on Industrial Policies and International Trade, she had been on the European Commission—the cabinet for the European Union—for three years. At the time, the EU had just nine member states. For the next decade, Day worked to liberalize the EU and its global trade agenda, and she paved the way for ten Central and Eastern European states to join. She was the first woman to be appointed Secretary-General of the European Commission, a post she held from 2005 to 2015.