The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today selected Kristalina Georgieva to serve as IMF Managing Director and Chair of the Executive Board for a five-year term starting on October 1, 2019.
Ms. Georgieva, a Bulgarian, who succeeds Christine Lagarde, is the first person from an emerging market economy to lead the IMF since its inception in 1944.
The selection of Ms. Georgieva by the 24-member Executive Board representing the IMF’s 189 member countries brings to a conclusion the selection process initiated by the Executive Board on July 26, 2019
Following interviews with Ms. Georgieva, Executive Directors selected her for the position, effective October 1.
The Managing Director is the chief of the IMF’s operating staff and Chair of the Executive Board.
The Managing Director is assisted by four Deputy Managing Directors in the operation of the Fund, which serves its membership through about 2,700 staff.
Ms. Georgieva, a national of Bulgaria, has been the Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank since January 2017.
From February 1, 2019 to April 8, 2019, she was the Interim President for the World Bank Group.
Starting in 2010, she was at the European Commission, serving as Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, then as Vice President for Budget and Human Resources.
Ms. Georgieva has a Ph.D. in Economic Science and a M.A. in Political Economy and Sociology from the University of National and World Economy in Bulgaria, where she also taught from 1977 to 1991.
Previously, Ms. Georgieva helped shape the agenda of the European Union. She served as European Commission Vice President for Budget and Human Resources, overseeing the EU’s €161 billion (US $175bn) budget and 33,000 staff.
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In that capacity, she was deeply involved in efforts to address the Euro Area debt crisis and the 2015 refugee crisis. Before that, she was Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, managing one of the world’s largest humanitarian aid budgets.
Prior to joining the European Commission, Ms. Georgieva worked for 17 years at the World Bank, culminating in her appointment as Vice President and Corporate Secretary in 2008.
In this role, she served as the interlocutor between the World Bank Group’s senior management, its Board of Directors, and its shareholder countries.
She held a number of other senior positions, including World Bank Director for Sustainable Development, World Bank Director for the Russian Federation, based in Moscow, World Bank Director for Environment, and Director for Environment and Social Development for the East Asia and Pacific Region. She joined the World Bank as an environmental economist in 1993.
Ms. Georgieva serves on many international panels including as co-Chair of the Global Commission on Adaptation to climate change, and as co-chair of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing.
She has authored and co-authored over 100 publications on environmental and economic policy topics, including textbooks on macro- and microeconomics.
Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1953, Ms. Georgieva holds a Ph.D in Economic Science and a M.A. in Political Economy and Sociology from the University of National and World Economy, Sofia, where she was an Associate Professor between 1977 and 1993. During her academic career, she was visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In 2010, she was named “European of the Year” and “Commissioner of the Year” by European Voice for her leadership in the EU’s humanitarian response to crises.
