MANILA — Kristalina Georgieva officially took office as the new managing director of the International Monetary Fund on Oct. 1. The Bulgarian economist is the first head of IMF to come from an emerging market economy. She is also the second woman to take on the job after Christine Lagarde, who resigned in July after being nominated and eventually confirmed by European Union leaders as the next president of the European Central Bank.
Before taking on the IMF post, Georgieva served as CEO and interim president of the World Bank. She also previously served as vice president for budget and human resources at the European Commission and commissioner for international cooperation, humanitarian aid, and crisis response.
Axel van Trotsenburg, who’s been acting as World Bank CEO since Sept. 2, is the bank’s new managing director of operations.