General Counsel and Director of the Legal Department at the IMF. Advises on legal aspects of the IMF operations, regulatory, advisory and lending functions. Published extensively on the law of the Fund and a broad range of legal issues relating to prevent and resolve financial crises, with emphasis on insolvency and restructuring of debt.

Laura Alonso is the Secretary of Public Ethics, Transparency and Fight against Corruption of Argentina, in charge of the Anticorruption Office, since December 2015.

She has served as Member of Congress for the City of Buenos Aires, from 2009 to 2015, being member of the Committees of Constitutional Affairs; Foreign Relations and Freedom of Speech. Previously, she was the Executive Director of “Poder Ciudadano”, the Argentine chapter of the organization Transparency International.

Her work has just been selected globally by the organization “Vital Voices” to be part of an extensive study on her efforts strengthening democracy and integrity in Argentina.

She has also been selected as Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2012, Chevening Fellow (2000), Eisenhower Fellow (2008), and Draper Hills Fellow from the University of Standford (2012).

In 2008, she received a Global recognition from the Vital Voices organization for her work strengthening liberties, and in 2014, the magazine Poder of Florida, distinguished her work in Argentina.

The Council of the Americas developed a portrait of her work in 2012 as an “Innovator”, at the publication “Americas Quarterly” http://bit.ly/2oZgomf

She has recently been a key speaker at the Global Conference “Woman in the world” at the Aspen Ideas Festival, and at the OECD 2017 Integrity Forum.

She has a degree in Political Science from the University of Buenos Aires and holds a Master in Public Administration and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Christine Lagarde has been Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund since July 2011. She held various ministerial positions within the French government, including Finance and Economy Minister (2007–11), Minister for Foreign Trade, and Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries. She was also Chairman of the Global Exchange Committee and Global Strategic Committee of Baker & McKenzie.

Born in Paris in 1956, Christine Lagarde completed high school in Le Havre and attended Holton Arms School in Bethesda (Maryland, USA). She then graduated from law school at University Paris X, and obtained a Master’s degree from the Political Science Institute in Aix en Provence.

After being admitted as a lawyer to the Paris Bar, Christine Lagarde joined the international law firm of Baker & McKenzie as an associate, specializing in Labor, Anti-trust, and Mergers & Acquisitions. A member of the Executive Committee of the Firm in 1995, Christine Lagarde became the Chairman of the Global Executive Committee of Baker & McKenzie in 1999, and subsequently Chairman of the Global Strategic Committee in 2004.

Christine Lagarde joined the French government in June 2005 as Minister for Foreign Trade. After a brief stint as Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, in June 2007 she became the first woman to hold the post of Finance and Economy Minister of a G-7 country. From July to December 2008, she also chaired the ECOFIN Council, which brings together Economics and Finance Ministers of the European Union, and helped foster international policies related to financial supervision, regulation, and strengthening global economic governance. As Chairman of the G-20 when France took over its presidency for the year 2011, she set in motion a wide-ranging work agenda on the reform of the international monetary system.

On July 5, 2011, Christine Lagarde became the eleventh Managing Director of the IMF, and the first woman to hold that position. On February 19, 2016, the IMF Executive Board selected her to serve as IMF Managing Director for a second five-year term starting on July 5, 2016.

Christine Lagarde was named Officier in the Légion d'honneur in April 2012.

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is chair of the board of Gavi, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation. Previously, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala served twice as Nigeria’s finance minister, from 2003 to 2006, 2011 to 2015, and briefly foreign minister, the first woman to hold both positions. She spent a 25-year career at the World Bank as a development economist, rising to the number two position of managing director, overseeing the operational portfolio in Africa, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia.