The Graduate Institute is honoured and pleased that prominent personalities who have played and still play an important role in the international arena have accepted the status of Distinguished Fellows. In that quality, they will participate in our intellectual life, help us with their advice and network, and contribute to our outreach.
Senior Distinguished Fellow
As President of the International Committee of the Red Cross since 2012, Mr Maurer has a unique exposure to humanitarian and legal concerns in today's main armed conflicts. Mr Maurer has a long diplomatic career including to serve as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in Switzerland and as the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations in New York.
Senior Distinguished Fellow
Mr Møller is a former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. He is currently Senior Adviser to Macro Advisory Partners and Member of the Board for a number of foundations, including the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA), the Kofi Annan Foundation and One Young World. He is also President of the Jury of the Geneva Challenge.
Mr Møller spent over 40 years as an international civil servant in the United Nations. He began his career in 1979 with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and worked for the United Nations in different capacities in New York, Mexico, Iran, Haiti, Cyprus and Geneva. In his last position, Mr Møller served as Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, as well as Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, and Personal Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to the Conference of Disarmament from September 2013 to July 2019. Prior to that, Mr Møller served as Executive Director of the Kofi Annan Foundation from 2008 to 2011.
After a long trade union career, Ruth Dreifuss was Federal Councilor and then the first woman President of the Swiss Confederation. Now, Ruth Dreifuss is active in several organisations, notably the Global Commission on Drug Policy and the International Commission against the Death Penalty.
Francis Gurry is Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization. He chairs the UN High-Level Committee on Management, which reports to the UN Chief Executives Board, and is responsible for ensuring coordination in administrative and management areas across the UN System.
An international lawyer, Rita Hauser is a former senior partner at the New York law firm, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan and served on the US President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. Known for her public service and philanthropic work, she chairs the International Peace Institute, the Advisory Board of the International Crisis Group and the Hauser Foundation.
After having served as Secretary of State at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Jakob Kellenberger was elected President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, a position that he held until 2012. He is currently a visiting professor at the Graduate Institute, Geneva.
Pascal Lamy served for two consecutive terms, from 2005 to 2013, as General Director of the World Trade Organization (WTO). He was Chief of Staff for the President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors, from 1985 to 1994, and European Trade Commissioner from 1999-2004. In between, he was CEO of Credit Lyonnais.
Jenö Staehelin was Ambassador of Switzerland in many countries, notably in Japan, before being nominated Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations in New York. He served as a member of the International Committee of the Red Cross and is currently a member of the board of the Kofi Annan Foundation.