Mr. Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa (born in Belluno, Italy, 1940) – Italian Economy and Finance Minister since May 2006 - graduated from the Luigi Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, in 1966 and received a Master of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He served during his military service as Artillery officer. He holds six honorary degrees.

Mr. Padoa-Schioppa served as a member of the Executive board of the European Central Bank (1998-2005), Chairman of Consob - Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (1997-98), Deputy Director-General of Banca d’Italia (1984-97) and Director‑General for Economic and Financial Affairs at the Commission of the European Communities (1979-83).

After the end of his mandate at the European Central Bank, and until his appointment as Economy and Finance Minister, he has been President of Notre Europe (Paris), Senior Fellow of the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI, Rome), Chairman of the Trustees of the IASC Foundation, the oversight body to the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), and Senior Adviser and Member of the Advisory Board of the Promontory Financial Group, LLC.

During his activity he served in a leadership capacity on various European and international committees, including as Joint Secretary to the Delors Committee for the study of European Economic and Monetary Union (1988-89); Chairman of the Banking Advisory Committee of the Commission of the European Communities (1988-91); of the Working Group on Payment Systems of the Central Banks of the European Community (European Monetary Institute) (1991-95); of the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision (1993-97); of the European Regional Committee of IOSCO (1997-98); of the FESCO (Forum of the European Securities Commissions) (1997-98); of the G10 Committee on Payments and Settlement Systems (2000-05).

Mr. Padoa-Schioppa is a member of the Group of Thirty since 1979 and of the Advisory Board of the Institute for International Economics (IIE, Washington DC). He has been President of the International Center for Monetary and Banking Studies (Geneva, 2001-06).

He is author of numerous books and articles. Among the most recent: ‘Europa, una pazienza attiva’ (2006); ‘L’Euro e la sua banca centrale’ (2004); ‘Regulating Finance’ (2004); ‘Dodici Settembre’ (2002); ‘Europa, forza gentile’ (2001).

He is Cavaliere di Gran Croce della Repubblica Italiana.