Christine Lagarde, who may be best known to many Americans for seeming visibly irritated by
Ivanka Trump at last week's
G20 summit, is now set to become the first woman to head the
European Central Bank.
Who is she?
Lagarde, the managing director of the
International Monetary Fund, was nominated to lead the European Union's central bank after weeks of discussion with top EU officials. Her nomination was largely unexpected, given that she has no experience in monetary policy and is not an economist.
The European Council's president, Donald Tusk, said on Tuesday that she would make "a perfect president of the
European Central Bank,"
Last week during a meeting at the G20, Lagarde was filmed speaking with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Theresa May, and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau — while seeming visibly annoyed that President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka was attempting to get in on the conversation.
Lagarde has become known for alliance building and for her negotiating skills in global finance circles as well as a champion for female empowerment.
As head of the IMF she built a strong relationship with Germany, and she has fans across Europe. In France and southern Europe, her French Treasury past and activist monetary policy thinking will give hope across the eurozone.
She rebuilt confidence in the IMF after the problems that came with bailing out the Greek economy, and she later came to the aid of Argentina in the form of a $57 billion bailout.
She would be taking over from the man known as "Super Mario" in Brussels, Mario Draghi, who has risen as a dominant figure in the global economy during his nearly eight years at the ECB.
Luckily for Lagarde, she has a knack for exceeding expectations — something she would need to continue the legacy of her predecessor, noted for his "whatever it takes policy" that investors have said led to an impressive reign as head of the ECB.
She has also been a figure of women's empowerment, becoming the first female head of the IMF when she took the role in 2011. Then, as now, there were doubts whether a former lawyer could successfully run the Washington-based organization.
"I am honored to have been nominated for the ECB Presidency," Lagarde said on Twitter, adding that she would be temporarily stepping down as managing director of the IMF during the nomination process.
On a recent appearance on "The Daily Show," Lagarde discussed how investing in education, infrastructure, and health boosted economic growth.
Formal approval of her appointment is set to take place in the coming months, as EU officials will decide officially who takes the role through a number of procedural moves.
German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen was also nominated president of the European Commission, which would make her the first woman in that role.