Curriculum vitae of Executive Director

Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle has been EFSA’s Executive Director since July 2006. Her new five-year mandate starts on 1 July 2011.

Throughout her career, Ms Geslain-Lanéelle has held several positions of responsibility within the food sector. In 2000, she was appointed Director General of the Food Department within the French Agricultural Ministry at the height of the BSE crisis in France. In this post, she was responsible for managing health risks related to food, animal health and welfare, and plant protection as well as risk communications.

Ms Geslain-Lanéelle remained in this post until April 2003 when she became Regional Director of Agriculture and Forestry for the Ile de France region.

She has held a number of international positions, notably as Chair of the Codex Alimentarius Committee on General Principles in 2001 and 2002, as well as Deputy Director of the French Department of International Trade from 1998 to 2000, managing French food aid. Here she worked closely with the European Commission and several other international organisations, working to promote the European agricultural model.

She also worked at the European Commission from 1991 to 1993 as a National Expert at DG III (DG Industry and Internal Market) in the area of food safety.

Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle has a Master of Science from the Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon and from the Ecole Nationale du Génie Rural, des Eaux et des Forêts.

  • Born in Toulouse (France) 1963 
  • Master of Science the Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon in 1986 
  • Graduate from the Ecole Nationale du Génie Rural, des Eaux et des Forêts in 1987 
  • DEA (Diplome d'Études Approfondies) de droit communautaire à Paris II, auditeur libre, in 1987 
  • National Expert at the European Commission at DG III (DG Industry and Internal Market) in the area of food safety 1991-1993
  • Head of department of milk and dairy products in the French Ministry of Agriculture 1994 to 1997 
  • Counsellor in the Cabinet of French Agricultural Ministry 1997 to 1998 
  • Deputy Director of the department of international trade 1998 to 2000 
  • Director-General of Food of the French Agriculture Ministry 2000 - 2003 
  • Chair of the Codex Alimentarius Committee 2001-2002 
  • One of the two Vice-Chairs of the EFSA Management Board 2002 -2006 
  • Director of Agriculture and Forestry for the Ile de France region 2003 – 2006
  • Since 1 July 2006 Executive Director of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)
  • Awarded the French Légion d'honneur on 9 December 2008 in recognition of distinguished 20-year career in French civil service
  • Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle’s new five-year mandate starts on 1 July 2011