Alenka Smerkolj

Alenka Smerkolj (born 15 December 1963) is a Slovenian politician appointed Secretary-General of the Alpine Convention, starting on 1 July 2019 as first woman holder of this post. From November 2014 to September 2018 she was the Minister without Portfolio responsible for Development, Strategic Projects and Cohesion in Miro Cerar's cabinet. From July to September 2016, she was acting Minister of Finance, after Dušan Mramor resigned.

Career

From 1988 to 2014, Smerkolj worked at the NLB Group, latterly as a director with responsibility for the financial markets. As a director, she was responsible for heading the NLB Group's communications with the Bank of Slovenia and the Ministry of Finance over liquidity management. She also held responsibility for balance sheet management, trade in financial instruments, investment banking, and securities custody. She was also a member of the Treasury Board at the Bank Association of Slovenia (BAS).

Smerkolj is a professor of French and Spanish at the University of Ljubljana.

Dušan Mramor resigned as Minister of Finance on 13 July 2016; the following day Smerkolj was appointed the acting minister.