Field Programmes in Europe and Central Asia

Ms Susanne Hoffmann (Germany) was appointed Regional Director of the ILO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia in Geneva, with effect from May 2010. Born in 1958, Ms Susanne Hoffmann holds the First and Second State Examination in Law from the University of Freiburg/Br. and the Higher Regional Court of Justice/Stuttgart in Germany. Prior to joining the ILO, Ms Susanne Hoffmann worked as a lawyer at the Regional Court of Baden-Baden in Germany from 1986 to 1991. She joined the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in 1992 in Bonn where she held – until 1998 – various positions: Counsellor in European Law/European Court of Justice; Deputy Head of Division for the ILO/United Nations; and Chief of Cabinet to a Parliamentary State Secretary. In 1999, Ms Hoffmann moved with the Ministry of Labour to Berlin and was responsible as Head of Division for the conceptual preparation and legal implementation of one of the main German labour market reforms over the last decade – the merging of social insurance and unemployment assistance, including a new set of policies to promote employment. From 2005 to 2007, she worked as Counsellor for Labour and Social/ILO Affairs for the Permanent Mission of Germany in Geneva and then, from 2007 to 2009, she returned to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in Berlin, as Director of International Employment and Social Policy. Her most recent appointment was as Director-General of the Department for European and International Employment and Social Policies in the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in Berlin (end of 2009 to April 2010).