Changing of the guard at the ETF

At the end of June 2017, the ETF bid a warm farewell to Madlen Serban, who has directed the agency for the past eight years. The next Director of the ETF will be Cesare Onestini, who will take over leadership of the agency on 1 September 2017. In the intervening period, the ETF will be headed by Henrik Faudel, who has been appointed Director ad interim by the ETF Governing Board.

Mr Onestini combines a background in education and training policy with extensive experience in policy development and management at the highest level in the European Union.

Mr Onestini is a graduate of Oxford University, where he achieved a doctorate in higher education policy. He joined the European Commission in 1995, working for six years in education and training before serving in a variety of roles in energy, trade, the Secretariat General and external relations, where he was Head of Political and Security Council Affairs in the EU Delegation to the United Nations in New York.

Mr Onestini joined the European External Action Service in 2010, playing a key role in setting the service up, as advisor to the Chief Operating Officer and Head of the Corporate Board Secretariat, before his appointment as Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to India and Bhutan, where he has served for the past three years.