The Board of Governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has elected on Thursday Odile Renaud-Basso of France as the bank's next President. She is EBRD's first female leader since the bank was founded in 1991. Renaud-Basso, who is Director-General at the French Treasury, will replace Sir Suma Chakrabarti, who stepped down in July after serving two full four-year terms. She is set to assume office later this year. The election took place during the EBRD's 2020 Annual Meeting that was held in a virtual session and postponed from May due to the coronavirus pandemic. As Director General at the French Treasury, Renaud-Basso has overseen the development of France's economic policies, leading on European and international financial affairs, trade policies, financial regulation, and debt management. She is also Chair of the Paris Club. She also served as Vice-President of the European Economic and Financial Committee, deputy to the G7 and G20 groups and French Governor or Alternate Governor of the World Bank, EBRD, and African Development Bank (AfDB). Prior to her current role, Renaud-Basso was Deputy Director-General of the Caisse des Dépôts, a large French public financial institution. She is a graduate of the Paris Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po), and an Ecole Nationale d'Administration alumnus. She also attended Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. "It is a great honour for me to have been elected as the new President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a truly unique institution." Renaud-Basso said. "I look forward to working with all shareholders, the management and the staff in the coming months, to implement the ambitious roadmap that was just agreed at the Annual Meeting." Congratulating Odile Renaud-Basso, Jürgen Rigterink, Acting President of the EBRD, said: "She will bring huge international experience to the EBRD and I know the Bank will be in very good hands as it enters the next chapter in its thirty-year success story."
