Michel Camdessus, a French economist, was the seventh CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of the IMF from 1987 to 2000. He had previously held high-profile positions in the French public administration and the European Community. During his tenure, he faced numerous global financial crises and is remembered for his reforms to financial surveillance and internal procedures. He is currently the president of Semaines Sociales de France and a member of the Commission for Africa.
Michel Camdessus, born May 1, 1933, is a French economist who on January 16, 1987 became the seventh Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). A position he held until February 14, 2000. Trained at the University of Paris, the Paris Institute of Political Studies and the National School of Administration, Camdessus has a degree in economics and is currently president of the Semaines Sociales de France and is also a member of the Commission for Africa, a body set up by the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Tony Blair.
Prior to taking on the post of IMF President, Michel Camdessus worked his way through a series of high-profile positions in the French public administration and, more recently, in the European Community (EC). Until he assumed the presidency of the IMF in 1987, he held the position of Governor of the Banque de France, a position to which he was appointed in November 1984 after having previously held the position of Deputy Governor. The year before his appointment to the presidency of the IMF he was appointed Deputy Governor of the IMF for France.
Michel Camdessus began his career in the French public administration where he worked as an Administrateur, or administrator, before moving to the Treasury at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Policy in the early 1960s. In 1971 he returned to the Treasury at the Ministry of Finance to fill the role of Deputy Director before being promoted in 1974 to the position of Deputy Director and finally to the position of Director in 1982. During this period he worked at the Ministry of Finance, Michel Camdessus he also held the presidency of the Paris Club and the Monetary Committee of the European Community. The latter position he held until his assumption of the presidency of the IMF.
Michel Camdessus’s tenure as IMF director was notable for the number and diversity of global financial crises, the fall of international communism and the rise of globalisation. He is said to have met the challenges of his position commendably and moved forward with his IMF reforms. He is remembered for transforming the role of financial surveillance into a more transparent process and for his development of internal procedures that gave the IMF a clearer perspective of world economic development.
Michel Camdessus is married to Brigitte d’Arcy with whom he has six children.
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