GW to Host IMF Annual Meeting

Christine Lagarde will deliver address on Oct. 3 open to the university community.

September 23, 2013

Christine Lagarde

Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF, will give an address at GW.

Managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde will deliver an address on the state of the IMF at the George Washington University’s Jack Morton Auditorium on Oct. 3. Free tickets are available for GW community members who register online.

The address will preview the IMF’s annual meeting, which will be held on campus from Oct. 8 to 12. Seminars and events organized by the IMF will be held in Jack Morton and Lisner auditoriums and on University Yard the week of the meeting. Students and faculty can register for many of these seminars, which will cover topics like policies for growth and jobs in Europe, restoring momentum in emerging markets and a CNN debate on the global economy. Ms. Lagarde will participate in several sessions.

Many university organizations worked with the Division of External Relations to help bring Ms. Lagarde to campus as a prelude to the IMF’s annual meeting. The International Affairs Society (IAS) invited Ms. Lagarde to speak at GW in a letter that was signed by nine other student organizations: the Delta Phi Epsilon Fraternity; Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority; Sigma Iota Rho; Strategic Crisis Simulation; Women in International Security; GW Student Association; GW Professionals in European, Eurasian, and Russian Studies; the Finance and Investment Club; and the International Business Society.

IAS Chairman Gordon Gebert said the collaboration among all the student organizations has been “exceptional.” His team has been working on maximizing student presence at the event and making sure it is accessible to all students.

“We are very excited that the majority of the audience for this event will be members of the GW community,” he said, adding that students will also get a chance to interact directly with Ms. Lagarde during a question-and-answer session following her speech.

Mr. Gebert also looks forward to the excitement Ms. Lagarde’s preview will generate for the IMF’s annual meeting.

“Having the IMF annual meetings taking place on campus this fall, in addition to [Ms. Lagarde’s] speech, is another great example of the incredible assets that the location of our university offers our community,” he said.