Christine Lagarde

Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde is a French politician and lawyer serving as President of the European Central Bank, since November 2019. Prior to this appointment, she served as Chair and Managing Director (MD) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), between July 2011 and November 2019.

Lagarde previously held various senior ministerial posts in the Government of France: she was Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry (2007–2011), Minister of Agriculture and Fishing (2007) and Minister of Commerce (2005–2007). Lagarde was the first woman to become Finance Minister of a G8 economy (and the only woman as of 2019) and is the first woman to head the ECB or the IMF. A noted antitrust and labour lawyer, Lagarde was the first female Chair of major international law firm Baker & McKenzie, between 1999 and 2004. On 16 November 2009, the Financial Times ranked her the best Finance Minister in the Eurozone.

On 28 June 2011, Lagarde was named as the next Managing Director of the IMF for a five-year term, starting on 5 July 2011, replacing Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Her appointment is the 11th consecutive appointment of a European to head the IMF. She was reelected by consensus for a second five-year term, starting 5 July 2016, being the only candidate nominated for the post. In December 2016, a French court found her guilty of negligence relating to her role in the Bernard Tapie arbitration, but did not impose a penalty. In 2018, Forbes ranked her number three on its World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list.