Catherine DayFormer Secretary General of the European Commission

Catherine Day is the former Secretary General of the European Commission. She was appointed in 2005 by Jose Manuel Barroso.

Dr. Day began her career at the European Union in 1979. At the Commission she worked under a number of EU Commissioners including Irish commissioners Richard Burke and Peter Sutherland, and former British commissioner Leon Brittan.

She was appointed deputy director-general for external relations under Chris Patten in 2001 and was pivotal in the European Union’s enlargement in 2004 which saw ten new states join the EU.

Dr Day is the first woman to hold the post of Secretary General of the European Commission. Dr Day graduated from UCD with a BA Economics and Politics in 1974, followed by a Masters in International Trade and Economic Integration in 1975. She holds Honorary Doctorates from UCD, University of Limerick and Griffith College Dublin. She was alsoSpecial Adviser to President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commissioner and currently Chair of the Governing Body of University College Cork.