1. Christine Lagarde - Christine Largarde is the first woman to serve as Chief of the International Monetary Fund. The IMF Governors made the revolutionary appointment after 67 years of selecting only white European men to run its affairs.
Perhaps the Board decided to finally select a woman to repair the negative publicity it suffered as a result of the sex scandal which forced the former Chief to resign. But regardless of the reasons, we now have the first woman ever to serve as Chief of the International Monetary Fund. Christine Largarde took over IMF in one of the most stressful moments in the IMF’s history.
Since Christine Lagarde came into office, she was faced with the threat of bankruptcy in Greece, and Italy, a debt ceiling crisis in the US and the possible failure of the Eurozone. In other words, the IMF Chief has her hands full but every indication suggests that she will excel in the job.
Also, the European financial crisis is serious because it can transfer into the US as a result of the linkages that exist between these countries and because 20% of the US exports go to Europe, and there are European companies who employ several American citizens.
Ms. Largarde is important because she must play the role of a fire fighter by giving funds to countries; but there must be rules, and the funds must be paid back.
I admire Ms. Lagarde’s commitment to truth telling, rules, and regulations is exactly what Governments and banks need because for too long the elite class were allowed to do whatever they felt without accountability.
Finally, we have a woman, who doesn’t care about ego if she remains true to her expressed values, she will bring transparency, ethics, justice, and moral leadership to a traditional organization that has a profound effect over the lives of seven billion people who now live in the world.
2. Angela Merkel - Angela Merkel is the Chancellor of Germany, and the first woman to ever hold the position. She is routinely voted as one of the most powerful women in the world and the most important leader. Merkel is center-right, fiscally and socially conservative, although has liberal leanings on environmental and energy policy. Merkel's Germany is economically and financially sound: the biggest and strongest economy in Europe, 4th largest in the world.
Merkel is an important individual, because her decisions affect the future of the Euro, of the EU, the world economy, and even of nuclear energy use. Following the economic crisis, Chancellor Merkel was a key player to propose sweeping regulatory changes, including a redesign of the international architecture of financial institutions. Merkel’s economic stewardship has steered Germany further away from the American path of Wall Street’s casino capitalism. In foreign policy, Merkel displays her savvy political sense and high level diplomacy.
I admire Merkel, because with her personable, down to earth demeanor, Merkel has displayed steady, effective leadership in five critical areas: the economic crisis, social policy, global warming, foreign policy and, perhaps most importantly, in refashioning capitalism in the face of its near collapse.
3. Mary Jo White – Mary Jo White is a Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is very tough and smart. Her appointment meant to ensure that we don’t see a repeat of the days when regulators averted their eyes from Wall Street. Mary Jo White has a big job ahead of her and surprisingly the first prosecutor ever to run the S.E.C. She has a long track record of prosecuting white-collar crimes and she compiled an impressive record defending white-collar clients. In other words, White is someone who has worked on both sides.
Also, White’s most important job is going to be making the S.E.C. a vibrant and active player in maintaining the legitimacy of the country’s financial markets. White needs to get the agency to be proactive rather than reactive in confronting fraud, speculative excesses, and out-of-control financial institutions.
It may be beyond the power of any regulatory agency to prevent financial crises like the one we just lived through. But it’s absolutely the case that better-informed and more active regulators, particularly when they have the resources and the Presidential support they need, can limit and mitigate bad behavior, rather than simply punishing it after the fact. The SEC potentially has a lot of power. I admire White because she seems like someone who won’t be afraid to use it.
