Thomas Irves

Thomas Irves served as the President of Estonia from 2006 to 16. He adopted proactive policies and invested heavily in the future, making Estonia one of the most advanced digital countries. Estonia provides e-government services in voting, banking, healthcare, transportation, and education, making it a model of digital governance. During his presidency, Irves introduced the Tiger Leap project to schools - installing computer laboratories for students and ensuring that they all had access to the internet. Irves was born as an Estonian refugee and grew up in the United States. After several jobs in the United States and Canada, he moved to Munich in 1984 and became an analyst and researcher for Radio Free Europe, eventually becoming the station's head in Estonia. From 1993 to 1996, he served as Estonia's ambassador to the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In 1996, Irves began serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, which lasted until the end of 1998. Afterwards, he held the position again from 1999 to 2002. In 2002, Irves was elected as a member of the Estonian Parliament, and in 2004, he entered the European Parliament and began negotiations on Estonia's accession to Europe. Estonia successfully entered Europe in 2004. He participated in the Estonian presidential election as a candidate for the Social Democratic Party and was successfully elected in 2006. The 2007 parliamentary elections in Estonia were the world's first national vote to involve remote internet electronic voting. During his tenure, Irves actively promoted Estonia's accession to the European Union and NATO, and strengthened Estonia's relationship with the United States. Since November 2016, Irves has served as the co chair of the Global Future Council's Blockchain Technology, an organization established by the World Economic Forum dedicated to using blockchain technology to improve internet security.