Press Release No. 22/324

IMF Managing Director Names Brian Christensen as Director of the Corporate Services and Facilities Department

September 27, 2022

Washington, DC: Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), announced today her intention to appoint Brian Christensen as the IMF’s Director of the Corporate Services and Facilities Department (CSF). He will succeed Jennifer Lester, whose retirement from the Fund was announced on July 22, 2022.

“Brian is a highly respected strategic and operational leader, with a sharp and inquisitive mind. He is well known for his ability to overcome the most complex challenges with a clear and carefully though-out blueprint. As people leader, his care and concern for others is deeply valued by his staff and colleagues across the Fund,” said Ms. Georgieva.

“Over the past three years, as the Alternate Chair of the Fund’s Crisis Management Team and Deputy Lead of the Hybrid Model Working Group, Brian was at the heart of helping all of us at the Fund navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. His strategic leadership, combined with innovative thinking, attention to detail, and a deep care for our people and their safety allowed us to transition to work from home and now to a hybrid work model. His great sense of humor helped to keep us grounded and, importantly, helped us cope with stressful moments during these uncertain times,” Ms. Georgieva added.

Before joining the Corporate Services and Facilities Department as Deputy Director, Mr. Christensen served in the Office of Budget & Planning as Advisor and then Assistant Director, where he was responsible for the Fund’s corporate budget strategy, overseeing IT investments, and making substantive contributions to major Fund-wide initiatives and programs, among them the HQ1 Renewal Project. Prior to that, as chief of the Fiscal Affairs Department’s resource and information management division, Mr. Christensen was heavily involved in the design and implementation of the Fund’s new capacity development (CD) funding model. He also led work on establishing the Fund’s first two African Regional Technical Assistance Centers during his work in the former Office of Technical Assistance Management, where he started his Fund career in 2001.

Prior to joining the Fund, Mr. Christensen, a Danish national, served in the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the UN Development Program in Malawi. He holds a Bachelor‘s and a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Odense, Denmark, and a Master’s degree in Quantitative Development Economics from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom.

Mr. Christensen will assume his role as the IMF’s Director of the Corporate Services and Facilities Department on November 1, 2022.