Aleksander Kwasniewski

Biographical Information
"Aleksander Kwaśniewski is the former President of the Republic of Poland (1995 – 2005). He was born on the 15th November 1954, in Białogard, Poland. He participated in the famous “Round-Table” negotiations in Poland that finally brought the peaceful transformation of Poland and the whole Central and Eastern Europe from communism to democracy. A co-founding member and first chairman of the Social Democratic Party of the Republic of Poland. He won the presidential elections for the first time in 1995, starting against Lech Walesa. Co-author of the new democratic Constitution of Poland, which he signed into law on July 16th, 1997. "A great advocate of Poland’s membership in both NATO and the European Union. It was under his leadership that Poland finally joined NATO in 1999... Aleksander Kwaśniewski inspired the international mediation efforts during the 2004 Orange Revolution, helping the young democracy in Ukraine to prevail... On March 7, 2006, Kwaśniewski was appointed Distinguished Scholar in the Practice of Global Leadership at Georgetown University, where, as a visiting faculty member, he taught students in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service about contemporary European politics, the trans-Atlantic relationship and democratization in Central and Eastern Europe. He is also i.a. member of the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group, member of the Atlantic Council of the United States, member of the Bilderberg Group, Head of the Supervisory Board of the Amicus Europae Foundation in Warsaw and International Center for Political Studies in Kiev, Head of the International Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation, Head of the Board of Yalta European Strategy."

His wife is Jolanta Kwasniewska ‎.

Affiliations

 * International Advisory Board, Kulczyk Investments
 * Advisory Council, Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies
 * Project Syndicate