Christine Beerli, former Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was born in 1953.
She began her professional career as a lawyer and her political career as a member of the City Council of Biel, from 1980 to 1983. From 1986 – 1991, Christine Beerli served in the Bern cantonal parliament. In 1991, she was elected to the Council of States, to which she belonged until 2003. She was, inter alia, President of the Foreign Affairs Committee and President of the Social Security and Health Committee. Christine Beerli left politics in 2003. Since 2006, she has been President of the Agency Council of Swissmedic. Previously, she was Director of the Department of Engineering and Computer Science at the Bern University of Applied Sciences for ten years.