Brussels, 14/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 12 April, the European Commission appointed Ms Gertrud Ingestad as Director-General of its department for Informatics (DG DIGIT) and Ms Florika Fink-Hooijer as Director-General of its department for Interpretation (DG SCIC).
Ms Gertrud Ingestad, a Swedish national, takes up her post on 16 April. In March 2011, she took up the resource management of DG Information Society and Media, to become the Resource Director of the reformed DG for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (CNECT) in 2012. As of 2014, she has been DIGIT's Director for Digital Business Solutions and acting Director-General since the beginning of 2016.
Ms Florika Fink-Hooijer takes up her post on 1 June. She is a German national who has been working for the European Commission since 1990. In 2010, she headed the Cabinet of Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva during her term as International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Commissioner. In 2012, she became Director in the Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection.
The Commission also appointed three Deputy Directors-General: Ms Maive Rute to its Joint Research Centre (DG JRC), Mr Maciej Popowski to its department for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), and Mr Patrick Child to its department for Research and Innovation (DG RTD).
The new appointments mean that 26% of the Commission's top managers (Directors-General and Deputy Directors-General) are now women, up from 13% in November 2014, when the Juncker Commission took office.The European Commission has decided to appoint Mr Mikel Landabaso Álvarez to the position of Director "Strategy and corporate communication" in its Directorate-General for Communication (DG COMM). Furthermore, Mark Johnston will take up his new position as Director "Resources" in the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) as of 16 April 2016. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)