Heidi Grau

Heidi Grau joined the diplomatic service of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in 1997. She was assigned to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation where she worked on transition in CIS countries. She was posted at the Embassy in Moscow from 1998 to 2002 and at the Political Division for Peace Policy and Human Security in Bern until 2006, before moving to Switzerland’s Mission to the United Nations in New York where she was in charge of humanitarian and environmental questions. She later served as Deputy Permanent Representative before becoming Ambassador and Chef de Cabinet of the Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in December 2010. In May 2012 she was appointed head of the OSCE Chairmanship Task Force. Heidi Grau holds an MA in History and Russian Philology from the University of Zurich. She speaks German, French, English and Russian.