Speaker Bio

Themis Christophidou is the Director-General of the European Commission’s Regional and Urban Policy department since September 2023. Between 2018 and 2023, Themis Christophidou served as Director-General of the European Commission’s Education, Youth, Sport and Culture department. She is a civil engineer with a 40-year professional experience in the public and private sector. Themis Christophidou has been serving the EU for over 25 years. She has held various posts including as Head of Cabinet of the Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, Maria Damanaki and as Head of Cabinet of the Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides. In the first 15 years of her professional career, between 1986 and 2001, she worked in Brussels for local and regional government and earlier, in Greece as supervising engineer for construction projects in public transport infrastructure. Themis Christophidou is an alumna of the civil engineering faculty of the Metsovio Polytechnic University (NTUA) of Athens, with specialisation in road, rail and port infrastructure. A Cypriot national, born in Famagusta, she is trilingual, fluent in Greek, English and French.