David Lipton assumed the position of First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund on September 1, 2011. On March 28, 2016, he was reappointed for a second five-year term beginning September 1, 2016. Before coming to the Fund, Mr. Lipton was Special Assistant to the President, and served as Senior Director for International Economic Affairs at the National Economic Council and National Security Council at the White House. Previously, he was a Managing Director at Citi, and also served in the Clinton administration as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs — and before that as Assistant Secretary. Mr. Lipton earned a Ph.D. and M.A. from Harvard University in 1982 and a B.A. from Wesleyan University in 1975.

Stanley Fischer is Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.  From 2005 to 2013 he was Governor of the Bank of Israel.  Fischer was Vice Chairman of Citigroup from 2002 through 2005.  From 1994 to 2001, he was the First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF.  He served as Chief Economist of the World Bank from 1988 to 1990.  From 1973 to 1994, Fischer was a member of the MIT Economics Department.  Fischer was born in Zambia in 1943. 

Peter Praet has been a Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank since June 2011. The ECB Executive Board implements monetary policy for the euro area and gives the necessary instructions to the euro area national central banks. Mr. Praet was an Executive Director of the Nationale Bank van België/Banque Nationale de Belgique between 2000 and 2011 as well as a Member of the Board of the Banking, Finance and Insurance Commission. Prior he was an economist at the Générale de Banque, subsequently Fortis, and at the IMF. In addition, he was a member of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) between 2001 and 2008. Mr. Praet has had numerous additional assignments on boards including at the European Policy Centre and the Brussels European and Global Economic Laboratory (BRUEGEL).

Internationally recognized economist Takatoshi Ito, former dean of the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Public Policy (GraSPP) and former senior official in the Japanese government, joined Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) as a professor of international and public affairs in January 2015. Ito also serves as associate director for research at Columbia Business School‘s Center on Japanese Economy and Business.