John Lipsky

Name	John Lipsky
Office	Managing Director of the International Monetary FundActing
Term start	May 15, 2011
Predecessor	Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Office2	First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
1blankname2	Director
1namedata2	Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Term start2	September 1, 2006
Predecessor2	Anne Osborn Krueger
Birth place	New York City
Alma mater	Wesleyan UniversityStanford University

John Phillip Lipsky (born 1947) is an American economist. He is currently the acting Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. Previously the First Deputy Managing Director, he assumed his current position after Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested in May 2011 accused of sexual assault.

Family, early life and education

Lipsky's family is from Iowa and are Jewish. "Lipsky's great-grandfather, Henry Smulekoff, was a Russian immigrant who opened a furniture store on Cedar Rapids' May's Island in 1890. Lipsky was the middle child of three born to Abbott and Joan Lipsky. His father was president of Smulekoff's, and sister Ann Lipsky is president today. His mother still lives in Cedar Rapids and is a former lawyer, legislator, and chairwoman of the Iowa Council on Human Services." Early interest in Latin America was sparked by a family vacation in Mexico which led to a friendship, a summer in Guadalajara with the friend, and a summer for the friend in Iowa.

Career

On graduation Lipsky joined the International Monetary Fund, where he helped manage exchange rate surveillance procedure. Appointed the IMF's resident representative in Chile from 1978 (during General Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship), Lipsky returned, in 1980, to the IMF headquarters in Washington D.C. to develop procedures in international capital markets. He also participated in negotiations with several member countries. In 1998 he joined JPMorgan as Chief Economist, and on that bank's merger with Chase Manhattan was appointed Chief Economist and Director of Research. He was then appointed to an operation role, becoming Vice Chairman of JPMorgan Investment Bank. Three days later, on May 15, 2011, Lipsky was appointed acting Managing Director of the IMF, after Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn's resignation due to being arrested on sexual assault charges. His other professional activities have included serving on the Board of Directors of the American Council on Germany, the Japan Society, the Advisory Board of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

IMF leadership role

Lipsky's unplanned accession at the IMF led quickly to his immersion in addressing the European and Greek sovereign debt crises, a high-profile role his predecessor had been playing. At the 37th G8 summit held on 26-27 May 2011 in Deauville, France, Lipsky had to overcome Germany's reluctance to fund another round of bailouts for Greece. He did so by threatening to withhold IMF disbursements, an action that would precipitate a Greek default -- an option none was ready to accept at that point. In the "bitter infighting," Lipsky was characterized in The Guardian as "less silky, much blunter" than Strauss-Kahn.

Personal life

Lipsky lives in Washington, D.C., and New York. He and his wife have two daughters and a son.

References

External links

Biography at the IMF

Articles at Roubini economics

|-

Category:1947 births Category:American economists Category:American Jews Category:Living people Category:Managing directors of the International Monetary Fund Category:Stanford University alumni Category:Wesleyan University alumni