Jean-Daniel Gerber
editJean-Daniel Gerber was born on 29 August 1946 and graduated with a degree in economics. He is married to Elisabeth Gerber-Graber and has two grown-up children.
During his career in the service of the Swiss Confederation, which has spanned from 1973 to date, Jean-Daniel Gerber has worked in various fields: in the trade sector as Switzerland’s representative at the World Trade Organisation (WTO); in the field of development aid as Head of Service for Developing Countries at the Federal Office for Foreign Economic Affairs; in the diplomatic service as Minister and Head of Economic and Financial Services at the Swiss Embassy in Washington, D.C.; and at the World Bank as Executive Director and Dean of the Board of the World Bank Group from 1996 to 1997. In November 1997, the Federal Council appointed Jean-Daniel Gerber as Director of the Federal Office for Migration (formerly the Federal Office for Refugees) in the Federal Department of Justice and Police. In 2004 he was assigned Director of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs by the Federal Council and was conferred the title of State Secretary.
In 2004, the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences of the University of Berne awarded Jean-Daniel Gerber the honorary degree of doctor. His guiding principle remains: ut melius fiat (making things better).