Born in 1964, of dual Lebanese and Swiss nationality, Sami Kanaan is multilingual (French, German, English, Arabic); his life course is divided between Lebanon, Greece and Switzerland (Thun, Bern, Zurich then Geneva). He obtained a physicist diploma (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich) then a license and a diploma in political science (University of Geneva).
Strongly interested in public affairs from a young age, Sami Kanaan has a very rich political experience. He was elected to the Parliament of the City of Geneva (Municipal Council) in 1997 then to that of the Canton of Geneva (Grand Council) in 2001, before his election to the Executive of the City of Geneva (Administrative Council) in spring 2011 Re-elected twice in 2015 and 2020, he is currently in charge of the Department of Culture and Digital Transition, after having been in charge of the Department of Culture and Sport.
Mayor of Geneva on three occasions, he put at the center of his years as town hall, the dynamic of borders which can operate as ditches or on the contrary as bridges, the cultural and creative economy, support for the media, the digital transition and the resilience of cities in times of crisis.
He is vice-president of the Union of Swiss Cities and of the Union of Geneva Cities, of which he will take over the presidency in 2020. He also chairs the newly created Geneva Cities Hub, a bridge created jointly with the Canton and the Confederation for better to connect the world of cities and that of international Geneva. Since 2016, he has also chaired the Federal Commission for Children and Youth (CFEJ) on a mandate from the Federal Council.