Born in Sibiu, Manuela Catrina has a background in mathematics, computer science, cybernetics. She has teaching experience in computer science at the German high school „Samuel von Brukenthal” in Sibiu and „Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu.
In the early 2000s, Ms Catrina had the first opportunity to join the high levels of government as advisor for the Romanian Prime Minister, after which she continued as parliamentary advisor for Romania’s Chamber of Deputies. Since 2013, she has been leading the Ovidiu Sincai European School, one of the Social Democratic Institute Ovidiu Sincai’s key projects.
As Secretary of State since 2017, she contributed to the complex preparations for Romania’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Her mandate includes broader aspects as well as more specialized areas of the Digital Agenda - such as cybersecurity, AI and robotics, also promoting women in tech. In addition to handling legislative files stemming from EU’s Digital Agenda within the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council, she also coordinates a number of high-level national groups tasked with ensuring the security and resilience of Romania’s IT and telecommunications infrastructure.
Manuela Catrina began her political career in 1996 as a member of the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSD). From 2010 to 2013 she led PSD’s Communication and Informational Society Department. Since September 2015, she has been leading PSD’s Social Democratic Women’s Organization (Bucharest branch).