Christine Lagarde (born 1 January 1956) is a French politician, businessperson and lawyer serving as President of the European Central Bank since 1st November 2019.
Between July 2011 and September 2019, she served as Chair and Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Lagarde previously held various senior ministerial posts in the Government of France: she was Minister of Commerce (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 each the ECB and IMF.
In 2009, the Financial Times ranked her the best finance minister in the Eurozone. In 2019 and again in 2020, Forbes ranked her number two on its World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list.