Dana Reizniece-Ozola

Dana Reizniece-Ozola (born November 6, 1981) is a Latvian chess player and politician. She served as minister of Economics (2014–2016) and minister of Finance (2016–2019) of the Republic of Latvia.[1] She has been elected as a member of the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th[2] Saeima of the Republic of Latvia and worked as the chairperson of the Commission on Education, Culture and Science, Member of the Legal Affairs Commission and Member of the European Affairs Commission. In chess, Reizniece-Ozola was awarded the title of Woman Grandmaster by FIDE in 2001.

Dana Reizniece-Ozola
Country	Latvia
Born	6 November 1981 Kuldīga, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union (now Latvia)
Title	Woman Grandmaster
Peak rating	2355 (January 1999)

Dana Reizniece-Ozola
Minister of Finance
In office 11 February 2016 – 23 January 2019
Prime Minister	Māris Kučinskis
Preceded by	Jānis Reirs
Succeeded by	Jānis Reirs
Minister of Economics
In office 5 November 2014 – 11 February 2016
Prime Minister	Laimdota Straujuma
Preceded by	Vjačeslavs Dombrovskis
Succeeded by	Arvils Ašeradens
Personal details
Political party	For Latvia and Ventspils, Latvian Farmers' Union
Other political affiliations	Union of Greens and Farmers
Spouse(s)	Andris Ozols
Alma mater	Ventspils University College Riga Graduate School of Law International Space University

Biography

From 2006 to 2014, Reizniece-Ozola was Advisor to the Board, Board Member and Head of Ventspils High Technology Park. Before that, she was the Board Member of a research centre and industrial investment company. She has also worked at Ventspils City Council as the Head of the Investment Division.

Dana Reizniece-Ozola has studied International Business at Häme Polytechnic University of Applied Sciences (HAMK), Finland; law at the College of Law and linguistics at Ventspils University College in Latvia. She obtained a Professional master's degree in Translation and Terminology from Ventspils University College in Latvia and an Executive master's degree of Business Administration from the International Space University in France.

Dana Reizniece-Ozola has managed several projects related to satellite and space technologies, Project for the first Latvian Satellite "Venta-1" development at Ventspils High Technology Park being one of them.

Chess career

Reizniece-Ozola won the Latvian Chess Championship for women in 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001. In 1998 and 1999, she won the Girls Under 18 section of the European Youth Championships.[3][4] In 2000, Reizniece-Ozola competed in the Women's World Chess Championship, held in New Delhi, India; she was eliminated in the first round after losing to Nataša Bojković.[5]

In the 4th round of the 42nd Chess Olympiad in 2016, Reizniece-Ozola defeated Women's World Chess Champion Hou Yifan.[6]

Reizniece-Ozola played for Latvia in the Women's Chess Olympiad:[7]

• In 1998, at first board in the 33rd Chess Olympiad in Elista (+6 −2 =5);
• In 2000, at first board in the 34th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul (+6 −2 =5);
• In 2004, at first board in the 36th Chess Olympiad in Calvia (+6 −5 =0);
• In 2006, at first board in the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin (+5 −2 =4);
• In 2010, at first board in the 39th Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk (+1 −6 =2);
• In 2012, at first board in the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul (+6 -3 =1);[8]
• In 2014, at first board in the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø (+1 -5 =4);
• In 2016, at first board in the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku (+5 -3 =2).

Dana Reizniece-Ozola played for Latvia in the Women's European Team Chess Championship:[9]

• In 1999, at first board in 3rd Women's European Team Chess Championship in Batumi (+5 −4 =0);
• In 2001, at first board in 4th Women's European Team Chess Championship in León (+1 −4 =2);
• In 2011, at first board in 18th Women's European Team Chess Championship in Porto Carras (+4 −3 =2);[10]
• In 2015, at first board in 20th Women's European Team Chess Championship in Reykjavik (+2 −3 =4),
• In 2019, at first board in the 22nd Women's European Team Chess Championship in Batumi (+3, =2, -4).[11]

Political career

Dana Reizniece-Ozola served as Minister of Finance from 2016 until 2019.[1][12] She is a member of the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) and a deputy of the 10th,11th and 12th Saeima (Latvian Parliament) and has worked as the Chairperson of the Commission on Education, Culture and Science, as a Member of the Legal Affairs Commission and as a Member of the European Affairs Commission.[1] Within the ZZS she is a member of For Latvia and Ventspils.

In November 2017, Reizniece-Ozola submitted her formal application for succeeding Jeroen Dijsselbloem as the next chairman of the Eurogroup.[13] At the vote on December 4, she withdrew after the first round and Mário Centeno was eventually elected to the post.[14][15]

Other activities

European Union organizations

• European Investment Bank (EIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2016–2019)[16]
• European Stability Mechanism (ESM), Member of the Board of Governors (2016–2019)[17]

International organizations

• European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2016–2019)[18]
• Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), World Bank Group, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2016–2019)[19]
• Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2016–2019),[20] Chairwoman of the Board of Governors (2018–2019)
• World Bank, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2016–2019)[21]

Personal life

Reizniece-Ozola is married to Andris Ozols, director of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia.

References

1. "Minister". Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Latvia. 31 January 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
2. "Record number of women elected in 13th Saeima". Baltic News Network. LETA. 8 October 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
3. Crowther, Mark (1998-07-20). "TWIC 193: European Youth Chess Championship 1998". The Week in Chess. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
4. Crowther, Mark (1999-09-13). "TWIC 253: European Youth Championships". The Week in Chess. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
5. Crowther, Mark (2000-12-04). "TWIC 317: FIDE World Chess Championships". The Week in Chess. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
6. "Latvian Finance Minister topples world chess number one". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. Retrieved 2016-08-05.
7. Wojciech Bartelski. "Women's Chess Olympiads: Dana Reizniece". OlimpBase. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2012-09-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
9. Wojciech Bartelski. "European Women's Team Chess Championship: Dana Reizniece". OlimpBase. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
10. http://chess-results.com/tnr57855.aspx?art=9&lan=1&turdet=YES&flag=30&snr=75
11. "22nd European Team Chess Championship 2019 Women Section". chess-results.com.
12. "13th Saeima elections: The parties (Part 4)". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 17 August 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
13. Jan Strupczewski (November 30, 2017), Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia bid for Eurogroup chair Reuters.
14. Viktoria Dendrinou, Stephanie Bodoni and Radoslav Tomek (December 4, 2017), Portugal's Centeno Gets Top Economic Job in New Euro Chapter Bloomberg News.
15. Mehreen Khan and Jim Brunsden (December 4, 2017), Portugal’s Centeno wins race to become eurogroup president Financial Times.
16. Board of Governors European Investment Bank (EIB).
17. Board of Governors: Dana Reizniece-Ozola European Stability Mechanism.
18. Board of Governors European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
19. Board of Governors Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), World Bank Group.
20. Board of Governors Nordic Investment Bank (NIB).
21. Board of Governors World Bank.

External links

• Dana Reizniece-Ozola rating card at FIDE
• Dana Reizniece-Ozola player profile and games at Chessgames.com
• Dana Reizniece games at 365Chess.com
• Dana Reizniece-Ozola player profile at chesstempo.com