Mario Draghi (Italian born 3 September 1947) is an Italian banker and economist who succeeded Jean-Claude Trichet as the President of the European Central Bank on 1 November 2011. He was previously the governor of the Bank of Italy from January 2006 until October 2011. In 2013 Forbes nominated Draghi 9th most powerful person in the world. He was born in Rome, where he studied at the Massimiliano Massimo Institute and graduated from La Sapienza University under the supervision of Federico Caffè.

Then he earned a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976 with his thesis titled Essays on economic theory and applications, under the supervision of Franco Modigliani and Robert Solow. He was full professor at the Cesare Alfieri Faculty of Political Science of the University of Florence from 1981 until 1994[4] and fellow of the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (2001). From 1984 to 1990 he was the Italian Executive Director at the World Bank.[citation needed] In 1991, he became general director of the Italian Treasury, and held this office until 2001.[citation needed] During his time at the Treasury, he chaired the committee that revised Italian corporate and financial legislation and drafted the law that governs Italian financial markets.[citation needed] He is also a former board member of several banks and corporations (Eni, Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro and IMI). Draghi was then vice chairman and managing director of Goldman Sachs International and a member of the firm-wide management committee (2002–2005). Draghi is a trustee at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey and also at the Brookings Institution, in Washington, D.C.[citation needed] In his capacity as Bank of Italy governor, he was a member of the Governing and General Councils of the European Central Bank and a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements.[citation needed] He is also governor for Italy on the Boards of Governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Development Bank.[citation needed] In January 2006 Draghi was appointed Governor of the Bank of Italy, and in April 2006 he was elected Chairman of the Financial Stability Forum; this organization which became Financial Stability Board in April 2009 on behalf of the G20, bringing together representatives of governments, central banks and national supervisors institutions and financial markets, international financial institutions, international associations of regulatory authorities and supervision and committees of central bank experts.[citation needed] It aims to promote international financial stability, improve the functioning of markets and reduce systemic risk through information exchange and international cooperation between supervisors. On August 5, 2011 he wrote, together with the immediate past governor of the ECB, Jean Claude Trichet, a letter to the Italian government to push for a series of economic measures that would soon be implemented in Italy.

{product_snapshot:id=275}