2014 Special Guest Speaker: Jean-Claude Trichet

dowload Dr. J.C. Trichet speech

Former President of the ECB, Jean-Claude Trichet  is presently chairman of the Group of Thirty (Washington), chairman of the Board of Directors of Bruegel Institute (Brussels), Chairman of the trilateral  commission (Europe), a member of the « Institut de France » (Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques) and honorary governor of Banque de France.

Born in Lyon, Jean-Claude Trichet is an Inspecteur général des Finances and Ingénieur civil des Mines. He is a graduate of the Institut d’études politiques de Paris (in economics) and of the Ecole nationale d’administration. He worked in the competitive sector from 1966 to 1968. He was appointed to the Inspection générale des Finances in 1971.
Jean-Claude Trichet was made an adviser to the cabinet of the Minister of Economic Affairs in 1978, and then an adviser to the President of the Republic in the same year. In this capacity, he worked on issues relating to energy, industry, research and microeconomics from 1978 to 1981. He subsequently became Deputy Director of Bilateral Affairs at the Treasury Department from 1981 to 1984 and Head of International Affairs, also at the Treasury, and was Chairman of the Paris Club (sovereign debt rescheduling) from 1985 to 1993. In 1986 he directed the Private Office of the Minister of Economic Affairs, Finance and Privatisation. In 1987 he became Director of the Treasury. In the same year he was appointed Alternate Governor of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. He was Chairman of the European Monetary Committee from 1992 until his appointment as Governor of the Banque de France in 1993. At the end of his first term as Governor of the Banque de France, he was reappointed for a second term. He was instrumental in the implementation of the French strategy of “competitive desinflation”,in the 80’s and the 90’s, as Director of the Treasury and Governor of the Banque de France. He has launched the idea of the “Principles for stable capital flows and fair debt restructuring” in the international debt strategy at the end of the 90’s.
Jean-Claude Trichet was elected Chairman of the Group of Ten (G10) Governors on 29 June 2003. He was elected President of the “Global economy meeting” of Central Bank governors and President of the Group of Governors and heads of supervision (GHOS) in Basel (until October 2011). He was appointed President of the European Central Bank on 16 October 2003 for a term of office of eight years starting on 1 November 2003 and ending 31 October 2011.
Jean-Claude Trichet was named “Person of the Year” by the Financial Times in 2007 and was one of the “Fifty faces that shaped the decade” of the Financial Times in December 2009 (the only Frenchman in this list). He was named twice “Policy maker of the year” by “the International Economy Magazine” (1991 and 2007. He was also one of the “Most influential people in the world” in Time Magazine (2011).
He has received a number of awards, including the 2011 International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen for his contribution to European unity. He also received the 2011 Global Economy Prize from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. He received the “Collier du mérite européen” in Luxemburg (2013) and was awardedthe National Association of Business Economics (NABE) “Lifetime Achievement Award for Economic Policy” – Washington (2014).
He has been awarded honorary doctorates by the universities of Liège, Stirling, Montréal, Tel Aviv, Bologne and Sofia. Jean-Claude Trichet is a Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur and has been awarded several foreign honours.