Avenger of the Week | Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the IMF

As the world fights to rid itself of the Covid pandemic and looks hopefully toward economic recovery, Kristalina Georgieva is in a key position as the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and is no stranger to global challenges.

Kristalina Georgieva. Photo credit: EU2016 NL from The Netherlands [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

The IMF is made up of 190 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world. It has $1 trillion and provides grants and loans, funded by the member countries, based on the strength of their economies.

Kristalina Georgieva. Photo credit: World Bank Group/ Grant Ellis [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

Georgieva earned a PhD in economic science and a masters in political economy and sociology from the University of National and World Economy in her hometown of Sofia, Bulgaria and taught there before becoming involved in international organizations.

She then served the European Union (EU) as a European Commission Vice President for Budget and Human Resources with a budget of $175 billion and a staff of 33,000. She managed the EU’s response to the Euro Area debt crisis, the 2015 refugee crisis, and the humanitarian aid responses in Haiti and Pakistan.

Elected in 2019, Bulgaria-born Georgieva is the second woman to lead the IMF, succeeding Christine LaGarde of France. She is former interim CEO of the World Bank, where she began in 1993 as an environmental economist serving in successively higher positions committed to sustainable economic development over two periods for a total of 17 years.

In 2010, European Voice named her European of the Year and Commissioner of the Year in recognition of her leadership in the EU’s response to humanitarian crises, and she was awarded the Atlantic Council’s Distinguished International Leadership Award for her noteworthy contributions during her career of public service.

For her globally-reaching accomplishments to turn the tides of humanitarian crises, Kristalina Georgieva is GenderAvenger’s Avenger of the Week.

The Managing Director of @IMFNews, @KGeorgieva, is the @GenderAvenger #AvengerOfTheWeek for her noteworthy and globally-reaching accomplishments to turn the tides of humanitarian crises. #GenderAvenger https://www.genderavenger.com/blog/avenger-of-the-week-kristalina-georgieva