Mariana Mihaylova Kotzeva ( bg, Мариана Михайлова Коцева, born 12 March 1967) is a Bulgarian

statistician A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may w ...

and

econometrician Econometrics is the application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics," '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...

. Since the beginning of 2017 she has been the acting director-general of

Eurostat Eurostat ('European Statistical Office'; DG ESTAT) is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in the Kirchberg, Luxembourg, Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide stati ...

, the directorate-general of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

responsible for providing statistical information to the institutions of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

and for harmonizing statistical methods across the Union. She is also the former president of the National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria.

Early life and education

Kotzeva was born in

Byala, Ruse Province Byala ( bg, Бяла ) is a town in Ruse Province, Northern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Byala Municipality. The town is located on the crossroad between roads that connect Ruse with Veliko Tarnovo and Pleven wit ...

. She earned a master's degree in economics in 1985 (specializing in

economic statistics Economic statistics is a topic in applied statistics and applied economics that concerns the collection, processing, compilation, dissemination, and analysis of economic data. It is closely related to business statistics and econometrics. It ...

) from the

University of National and World Economy The University of National and World Economy ( bg, Университет за национално и световно стопанство) is a university in Sofia, Bulgaria. Notable alumni of the university are five Prime Minister of Bulgar ...

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

, Bulgaria. She earned a second master's degree in economics in 1993, from the

Central European University Central European University (CEU) is a private research university accredited in Austria, Hungary, and the United States, with campuses in Vienna and Budapest. The university is known for its highly intensive programs in the social science ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

under its charter from the

University of the State of New York The University of the State of New York (USNY, ) is the state of New York's governmental umbrella organization for both public and private institutions in New York State. The "university" is not an educational institution: it is, in fact, a lic ...

. In 1995 she completed a Ph.D. in economics, specializing in statistics and

demography Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as ed ...

, from the University of National and World Economy.

Career

Since 2003 Kotzeva has been on the faculty of the University of National and World Economy. Additionally, before joining Eurostat in 2014, she has worked for the Serbian Ministry of Labour and Employment, the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

, the Bulgarian Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, and the National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria. She was the head of the National Statistical Institute from 2008 to 2012. In 2012, she joined Eurostat as "adviser hors classe". She became deputy director-general at Eurostat in 2014, after the retirement of , and at that time became "the most senior Bulgarian civil servant in the European Union’s administration". She replaced as acting director-general in 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotzeva, Mariana Mihaylova 1967 births Living people 20th-century Bulgarian economists Bulgarian statisticians Bulgarian women economists Bulgarian women mathematicians Women statisticians University of National and World Economy alumni Central European University alumni 21st-century Bulgarian economists