Kristalina Georgieva is a Bulgarian economist and currently serves as Managing Director of the IMF, making her the second women to lead the organization since its inception. She earned her Master’s in Political Economy and Sociology, and her Ph.D. in Economic Science from the University of National and World Economy in Bulgaria, where she also served as Associate Professor between 1977 and 1993.

When asked about the struggles she faced throughout her professional journey, Kristalina said she “worked harder than any man just to be equal”. As a professor, she would take more classes, specifically classes of her male colleagues when they were on vacation. At first, she did not believe in advocating for gender inequality, until she realized that this approach is holding women back as society cannot be gender blind and expect women to receive equal opportunities as their male counterparts.

Prior to her role at the IMF, Kristalina held many roles at the World Bank before being appointed CEO in 2017, including Director for Sustainable Development and Director for Environment. She is widely recognized for making the bank the strongest it’s ever been financially, where she secured the largest funding increase in the Bank’s history that boosted the organization’s capital by $13 billion. Kristalina also worked at the European Commission, serving as Vice President for Budget and Human Resources in which she oversaw the EU’s $175 billion budget and was at the forefront of the EU’s response to the 2015 Euro Area debt and refugee crisis.

Kristalina’s work earned her many accolades. In 2010, she was “European of the Year” and “Commissioner of the Year” by European Voice in recognition for her leadership in the EU’s response to humanitarian crises.