Prior to her new role, Gunda Reire was Adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for strategic communication, democracy and public diplomacy. Her previous experience includes the positions of adviser to several other ministers, Chief of Staff of the Speaker’s Office at the Saeima and the Office of the Minister of Education, as well as Deputy Chairperson of the Strategic Analysis Commission Under the Auspices of the President of Latvia.
Gunda Reire is a visiting lecturer at the Riga Graduate School of Law and Rīga Stradiņš University, as well as Director of the Center of International Studies (CIS). She has been Residing Fulbright Research Fellow at John Hopkins University, SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations in Washington, D.C., USA.
She is also married to Finance Minister Jānis Reirs.
In Latvian ministries, the Parliamentary Secretary is directly subordinated to the responsible Minister, and provides the link between the Ministry and the Parliament of Latvia, the Saeima.
The administrative head of the Ministry is the State Secretary, who coordinates the work of the Ministry's departments. This second job title can occasionally cause some confusion, as it is not equivalent to the U.S. position of Secretary of State but is sometimes translated as such.