Roland Ries is a French politician from Alsace holding several posts on local, regional and national level since 1997. A member of the Socialist Party and mayor of Strasbourg since 2008 Ries also serves as the first President of the Strasbourg-Ortenau Eurodistrict's Council since 2010. Ries had already been the mayor of Strasbourg between June 1997 and January 2000, filling in for Catherine Trautmann after she had become Minister of Culture and Communication in the government of Lionel Jospin. Ries has furthermore been a Member of the Senate of France for the Bas-Rhin department between September and November 2004 and is again a Member since February 2005. Since 24 September 2008, Roland Ries is the president of the Association TGV Est-Europ�en. He also serves as the chairman of the Groupement des autorit�s responsables de transport since 2008 and was elected a member of the board of directors of the SNCF for a period of five years starting on 8 March 2013. Additionally, he became president of the network of French cities Cit�s unies France in July 2014, for a duration of two years. 

January 11th, 1945 in Niederlauterbach (Age 79)