Biography
Katerina Sakellaropoulou was born on 30 May 1956 in Thessaloniki, Greece. She is the country's first female president.
Sakellaropoulou has roots, from the side of her mother, Aliki Paraskeva, in Stavroupoli (region of Xanthi). Her father, Nikolaos Sakellaropoulos, served as Vice-President of Areios Pagos, the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court of Greece. She lived in Thessaloniki for the first eight years of her life. In 1964, she moved to Athens with her family. She graduated from the Arsakeio School, Psychiko, in 1974 and studied law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, completing successfully her studies in 1978. In 1982, she was appointed Assistant Judge at the Council of State, the Supreme Administrative Court of Greece. In 1988, she was promoted to the rank of Associate Councillor and served at the 3rd Chamber, where she mostly worked on cases regarding education, civil service and local government. In 2000, she was promoted to Councillor of State and served at the 5th Chamber, which deals with environmental law cases. On 23 October 2015, she was promoted to Vice-President and was assigned to the 3rd Chamber. On 17 October 2018 she was appointed President of the Council of State and remained in that position until 11 February 2020. She has authored several articles and essays on matters of constitutional and environmental law. She has a daughter, Niovi, and lives with her partner, Pavlos Kotsonis, who joined the Council of State as Assistant Judge in 1981, resigned as Councillor in 2010 and worked thereafter as legal counsel for a law firm in Brussels until 15 January 2020. On 22 January 2020, she was elected first female President of the Hellenic Republic by the Parliament, securing 261 votes out of a total of 300. She took the oath before the Parliament on 13 March 2020 and assumed office the following day. Bio via presidency.gr/en/president |