Silvana Koch-Mehrin

Silvana Koch-Mehrin is a Member of the European Parliament since 2004, where she represents the Free Democratic Party (FDP) of Germany in the Industry and the Petitions Committee. She was Vice-Chariwoman of the liberal ALDE group from 2004 to 2009 and Vice-President of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2011. She is responsible for bringing her party back into the European Parliament in 2004 after ten years of absence and lead the party in the 2009 election campaign, achieving the best voting result for the FDP ever in European elections. Previously, she was co-founder and managing director of a public affairs consultancy focusing on strategy planning and consultancy on European issues; she lectured to MBA students on Business Communication at the United Business Institute in Brussels, and holds an MA in Economics.