Ambassador Rolf Ekéus was born in 1935 and has had a distinguished career in international diplomacy, with a strong focus on arms control, disarmament, and conflict prevention. He represented Sweden for many years in a number of diplomatic posts, including Ambassador to the United States from 1997 to 2000. From 1983 to 1989 Ambassador Ekéus was Head of the Swedish Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and served as Chair of the negotiations on Chemical Weapons from 1984 to 1987. From 1989 to 1992, he was Head of Sweden´s delegation to the Conference in Vienna on Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE, and from 1991 to 1997, he was Executive Chair of the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM), the UN body charged with overseeing Iraqi disarmament.

He was OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities from 2001 to 2007, and Chair of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute from 2000-2010. He has been a Board member of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Washington, since 2001

Ambassador Ekéus has been an ICMP Commissioner since April 2005.