Christine Lagarde, French lawyer and politician; Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde (French: [kʁistin madlɛn ɔdɛt laɡaʁd]; née Lallouette, IPA: [lalwɛt]; born 1 January 1956) is a French politician and lawyer who is the current president of the European Central Bank, a position she has held since 1 November 2019. Prior to this appointment and between July 2011 and September 2019, she was the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).Lagarde previously held various senior ministerial posts in the Government of France: she was Minister of Foreign Trade (2005–2007), Minister of Agriculture and Fishing (2007) and Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry (2007–2011). Lagarde was the first woman

to become finance minister of a G8 economy and is the first woman to head both the ECB and the IMF. A noted antitrust and labour lawyer, Lagarde was the first female chair of major international law firm Baker & McKenzie, between 1999 and 2004. On 16 November 2009, the Financial Times ranked her the best finance minister in the Eurozone.On 5 July 2011, Lagarde replaced 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. She was re-elected 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. In 2019 and again in 2020, Forbes ranked her number two on its World's 100 Most Powerful Women list.