Silvana Koch-Mehrin is the President of the Women Political Leaders Global Forum (WPL), the worldwide network of female Politicians. WPL is an independent, non-partisan and not-for-profit foundation. Its mission is to advance society by increasing the number and influence of women in political leadership. Koch-Mehrin has been a Member of the European Parliament 2004-2014. From 2009 to 2011 she was Vice-President (Deputy Speaker) of the European Parliament, and from 2004 to 2009 she was First Vice-President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. She served in the committees on budget, on trade and on gender equality. Before her time in politics she founded and ran a public affairs consultancy in Brussels, which later merged with a larger US firm. She was also active as a talk-show host with her own show on two regional German TV channels, and is a contributor to national and international media. Koch-Mehrin holds numerous honorary positions, including EU Representative to the Executive Board of W20, Member of the Advisory Board of the Council of Women World Leaders (CWWL), and Alumni of the Young Global Leaders Network of the World Economic Forum.