Recent MGA Client Events
MGA regularly invites clients to sit down to lunch with policymakers so they can ask questions, get background, and gain insight.
Recent guests to our Policymaker Forum events include:
- Prof. Alex Weber, President, Deutsche Bundesbank
- Dr. Juergen Stark, Chief economist of the ECB
- Dr. Andreas Dombret, Board of General Managers, Deutsche Bundesbank
- Dr. Hubert Temmeyer, Executive Director, IMF
- Dr. Klaus Stein, Executive Director, IMF
Use the navigation arrows to the right for additional information on past events.
December 6, 2011 Luncheon with Dr. Hubert Temmeyer, IMF Executive Director for Germany
Bio: Dr. Hubert Temmeyer, who has acted as the IMF Executive Director for Germany since March, 2011, received an M.A. in Economics from the University of Siegen in 1984, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Kiel in 1989. After an early career as an Assistant Professor of Economics at Kiel University, Dr. Temmeyer served in various positions at the German Ministry of Economics and at the Deutsche Bundesbank. Dr. Temmeyer is a member of the ESCB expert group on IMF Governance issues (2008), and an alternate member of the Sub-Committee on IMF issues of the Economic and Financial Committee (2008-2011).
September 27, 2011 Conference "Aftershocks: Policymaking After the Crisis"
Panel discussion moderated by MGA president Dan Bogler, featuring: Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, ECB Executive Board Member; Athanasios Orphanides, ECB Governing Council Member and Central Bank of Cyprus Governor; James Bullard, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President and CEO.
September 20, 2011 Luncheon with Dr. Alan Bollard, Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand
Bio: Dr Alan Bollard was appointed as Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in September 2002. Dr Bollard’s previous positions include: Secretary to the Treasury 1998- 2002. The Treasury manages the Crown’s finances and is the Government’s principal economic adviser. Chairman of the New Zealand Commerce Commission 1994 - 1998.
The Commission is the regulatory authority in charge of the Commerce and Fair Trading Acts, which governs competition between firms. Director of the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research 1987 - 1994. The Institute provides advice on applied economics and forecasting. Dr Bollard has also worked as an economist in a variety of positions in the United Kingdom and in the South Pacific.
May 5, 2011 Luncheon with the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Group
The IMF Capital Markets Group discussed the key takeaways from the then recently released biannual Global Financial Stability Report. The discussion was led by Matthew Jones, Deputy Director of the Capital Markets Group. He was joined by economists and financial experts from the Capital Markets Group, Rebecca McCaughrin, Sanjay Hazarika and Will Kerry. The discussion focused on: Financial stability risks coming from the sovereign and banking system in the advanced economies with ongoing structural weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the euro area and the risk of sovereign funding challenges extending to the US and Japan, as well as the increasing risk of overheating that emerging markets are facing along with challenges coming from the build-up of financial imbalances from the combined effects of rising capital flows, strong credit growth and increasing corporate leverage.
March 14, 2011 Luncheon with H.E. President Mikhail Saakashvili of the Republic of Georgia and Ms. Vera Kobalia, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development.
Bio: Mikheil Saakashvili has served as president of the Republic of Georgia since the repeat presidential elections of January 2004, following the country’s democratic Rose Revolution. During his tenure as president, Mr. Saakashvili spearheaded a series of political, judicial and economic reforms. He also served as Minister of Justice from 2000 to 2002 and as a member of parliament from 1995 to 2000. Mr. Saakashvili graduated from the Institute of International Relations at Kiev State University in 1992. He later studied at The George Washington University Law School and earned a Master of Law from Columbia University in 1994.
Vera Kobalia was appointed as Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development in July 2010. Prior to this, she founded the Coalition for Justice in 2010, an organization devoted to helping Georgian internally displaced people around the world. Ms. Kobalia has also worked as a specialist in Canadian Society for International Health and marketing and sales manager in Boston International. She earned a degree in business administration from the British Columbia Institute of Technology in 2004.
March 8, 2011 Luncheon with Karen Johnson, Former Director of the Division of International Finance and the Federal Reserve
Bio: Ms. Johnson advised the Chairman, Board Members, and the Federal Open Market Committee on economic and financial developments in foreign countries. In addition, she represented the Board and international meetings and in its contacts with foreign central banks. Ms. Johnson began her career at the Federal Reserve Board in 1079 as an economist. She was appointed assistant director in 1085 and associate director in 1997. She was appointed director in October, 1998. Prior to joining the Board she was on the faculty at Stanford University.
May 26, 2010 Luncheon with Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times
Bio: Mr. Wolf is the associate editor and chief economics commentator at the Financial Times. He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 2000. He left Nuffield College, Oxford University, with a Master of Philosophy degree in economics in 1971 to join the World Bank’s young professionals programme, becoming a senior economist in 1974. He left the World Bank in 1981, to become Director of Studies at the Trade Policy Research Centre in London. He joined the Financial Times in 1987; he has been associate editor since 1990 and chief economics commentator since 1996.
May 11, 2010 Luncheon with Dr. Klaus Stein, Executive Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Bio: Prior to his appointments as an Executive Director of the IMF, Dr. Stein spent six years at Germany's Federal Ministry of Finance, where he headed the Cabinet of Ministers and Parliament Liaison Division. Later, he was the Deputy Director of the Federal Budget Department. Dr. Stein, who has a JD from the University of Trier, has also served as Counselor for the Finance and Management Division at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the UN.
April 26, 2010 Hosted Clients at the American Council on Germany's Luncheon with Dr. Axel Weber
Bio: Professor Dr. Axel Weber has been President of the Deutsche Bundesbank since 2004 and a Member of the Steering Committee of the Financial Stability Board since 2009. He is a leading candidate to succeed Jean-Claude Trichet as the head of the European Central Bank. Prof. Dr. Weber has also been a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, Governor of the International Monetary Fund, and Member of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements since 2004.
March 9, 2010 Luncheon with Dr. Jürgen Stark, Executive Board of the European Central Bank
Bio: Jürgen Stark is a German economist who has been a Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank since June 2006. Within the Executive Board, he is responsible for Economic and Monetary Analysis. Raised in Rhineland-Palatinate, he studied economics at the Universities of Hohenheim and Tuebingen, and received a doctorate in 1975. From 1978 to 1998, Dr. Stark held economic policy positions in the German Federal Government. From September 1998 to May 2006, he served two consecutive terms as Vice President of the Deutsche Bundesbank.