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 Executive Committee and Global Strategic Committee of Baker & McKenzie.

Michael R. Bloomberg is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who served as mayor of New York City for three terms. The technology startup he launched in 1981 to provide real-time data and analysis to the financial services industry has grown into a global company that now employs over 19,000 people in 73 countries. He led the company for 20 years before entering public service full-time, and since leaving City Hall in 2013, has resumed leadership of Bloomberg LP.

 

Bloomberg was elected mayor less than two months after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Under his leadership, the city rebounded faster and stronger than expected on issues ranging from education to health to economic development.

 

A lifelong philanthropist, Bloomberg founded, Bloomberg Philanthropies, which focuses on five main areas: public health, education, the environment, the arts, and government innovation. He also leads a number of bi-partisan coalitions on urgent issues, including climate change, illegal guns, immigration reform, and infrastructure investment. Bloomberg has served as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change since 2014, and in 2016, he was named the World Health Organization’s Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases. He is also co-author, with Carl Pope, of Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens Can Save the Planet.

 

Bloomberg graduated from Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Business School.