Baroness Catherine Ashton served as the European Union’s first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy from 2009 to 2014. She now holds a number of portfolios and foreign and security policy. She chairs the Global Europe Programme at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington DC. She is a Senior Policy Advisor to Chatham House and a consultant to the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.
On behalf of the UN Security Council, she chaired the negotiations that ultimately resulted in the agreement with Iran on its nuclear programme. She also negotiated with the Prime Ministers of Serbia and Kosovo leading to the Brussels agreement, for which they were all nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Previously, she was the first female EU Commissioner for Trade.
Prior to becoming a EU commissioner, she was a UK government minister in the House of Lords. She served in the Education and Justice departments, before being promoted to the Cabinet as Leader of the House of Lords.