Helle Thorning-Schmidt served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 2011 until 2015. Thorning-Schmidt is the first woman to serve as Prime Minister of Denmark.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt was born in 1966 and studied political science at the University of Copenhagen.  Thorning-Schmidt went on to earn  a master’s degree in European studies in 1993 from the College of Europe in Brugge, Belgium and another master’s degree in political science from the University of Copenhagen in 1994.Thorning-Schmidt became an administrator for the Danish Social Democratic Party’s delegation to the European Parliament from 1994 to 1997 and then worked as a consultant for the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions from 1997 to 1999. In 1999, she was elected as a member of the European Parliament, and served until 2004.In 2005 she was elected to the Danish Folketing (parliament) and that same year was chosen as the leader of the Social Democratic Party. Thorning-Schmidt served as leader of the party from 2005 until 2015.

After leaving office, she became the first female CEO of Save the Children International since 2016. In January 2019 she announced that she would be stepping down as CEO. Since 2020, Thorning-Schmidt has served as a Co-Chair of the Facebook Oversight Board.​ That same year, Thorning-Schmidt was appointed to the World Health Organization’s Regional office for Europe to serve as a member of the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development.

Thorning-Schmidt serves on a number of different boards and initiatives, including Friends of Europe, Vestas, International Crisis Group, Atlantic Council, Council on Foreign Relations, Center for Global Development, European Council on Foreign Relations, and a number of others.