Christine Lagarde

Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde (, ; born 1 January 1956) is a French politician and lawyer who has served as President of the European Central Bank since 2019.

After her baccalauréat in 1973, she went on an American Field Service scholarship to the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland.

During her year in the United States, Lagarde worked as an intern at the U.S. Capitol as Representative William Cohen's congressional assistant, helping him correspond with French-speaking constituents from his northern Maine district during the Watergate hearings.

She graduated from Paris Nanterre University, where she obtained master's degrees in English, labour law, and social law.

She also holds a master's degree from the Institut d'études politiques in Aix-en-Provence.

After being admitted to the Paris Bar, she joined the international law firm Baker & McKenzie as an associate in 1981, specializing in labor and anti-trust, as well as mergers and acquisitions.

Lagarde joined Baker & McKenzie, a large Chicago-based international law firm, in 1981.

She handled major antitrust and labour cases, was made partner after six years and was named head of the firm in Western Europe.

Rising through the ranks, she was a member of the executive committee of the firm from 1995 until 1999, before being elevated to its Chair between 1999 and 2004; she was the first woman in both positions.

She held the top post until she decided to go into public service.

She joined the executive committee in 1995 and was elected the company's first female chairman in October 1999.

Three years later she was reelected.

At Baker & McKenzie Lagarde promulgated a “client first” approach whereby lawyers anticipated client needs rather than solely reacting to exigent situations.

During her tenure, Lagarde oversaw the government response to the late 2000s financial crisis, for which the Financial Times ranked her the best finance minister in the Eurozone.

In 2004, Lagarde became president of the Global Strategic Committee.

Lagarde returned to France when appointed Minister of Foreign Trade from 2005 to 2007, then briefly served as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries from May to June 2007, and finally, as Minister of Finance from 2007 to 2011, making her the first female to hold the finance portfolio of any Group of Eight economy.

As France's trade minister between 2005 and May 2007, Lagarde prioritized opening new markets for the country's products, focusing on the technology sector.

Lagarde had also served in the Government of France, most prominently as Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry from 2007 until 2011.

She is the first woman to hold each of those posts.

Born and raised in Paris, Lagarde graduated from law school at Paris Nanterre University and obtained a Master's degree from Sciences Po Aix.

On 18 May 2007, she was moved to the Ministry of Agriculture as part of the government of François Fillon.

The following month she joined Fillon's cabinet in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Finance and Employment.

Since 2010, she has presided over the Aix school's board of directors.

She was the only member of the French political class to condemn Jean-Paul Guerlain's racist remarks of 2010.

In government, she implemented liberal economic reforms, such as liberalizing the labor market, lowering estate taxes, and an austerity plan for public services.

She previously served as the 11th Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2011 to 2019.

On 5 July 2011, she was elected to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn as managing director of the IMF for a five-year term.

Her appointment was the 11th consecutive appointment of a European to head the IMF.

On 25 May 2011, Lagarde announced her candidacy to be head of the IMF to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn, upon his resignation.

Her candidacy received the support of the British, Indian, United States, Brazilian, Russian, Chinese and German governments.

The governor of the Bank of Mexico (and former Secretary of Finance) Agustín Carstens was also nominated for the post.

She was selected by consensus for a second five-year term, starting 5 July 2016, being the only candidate nominated for the post.

In December 2016, a French court convicted her of negligence relating to her role in the Bernard Tapie arbitration, but did not impose a penalty.

Lagarde resigned from the IMF following her nomination as president of the ECB.

In 2019 and again in 2020, Forbes ranked her number two on its World's 100 Most Powerful Women list.

Christine Lagarde was born in Paris, France, into a family of teachers.

Her father, Robert Lallouette, "born to a Jewish mother and a non-religious father.", was an English teacher; her mother, Nicole (Carré), was a Latin, Greek and French literature teacher.

Lagarde and her three younger brothers spent their childhood in Le Havre.

There she attended the Lycée François 1er (where her father taught) and Lycée Claude Monet.

As a teenager, Lagarde was a member of the French national synchronised swimming team.