James Wolfensohn
Live Web cast March 14, 2000, 1 p.m. ET

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Challenges to the World Bank in the 21st Century

James Wolfensohn heads the World Bank at a time when the world is changing at a dizzying rate.

The Cold War is over, and with it the old system of patronage between First, Second and Third World nations. Many former Soviet satellites are struggling to adapt to the free-market system. The world's population has doubled in the last 40 years. Many nations have found themselves torn apart by war; sometimes the conflicts are with other countries, but increasingly they are within national borders. The gap between rich and poor nations is expanding.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were created after World War II to help countries rebuild their economies and infrastructures. The Bank has gradually shifted its focus toward what Wolfensohn calls "the increasing problems of development."

Wolfensohn became the World Bank Group's ninth president in 1995. Since then, he has visited more than 100 countries, from Ethiopia to Pakistan to Indonesia. He says he wants to get first-hand knowledge of the challenges facing the Bank's client nations and the Bank itself.

Australian-born Wolfensohn is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He earned B.A. and LL.B. degrees from the University of Sydney and an M.B.A from Harvard University.

The World Bank president was a member of Australia's fencing team at the 1956 Olympics, and he admits he was "soundly defeated" at the 1958 fencing world championships, where he was captain of the country's national fencing team.

Long devoted to the fine arts, Wolfensohn is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. New York City's Museum of Modern Art awarded him the David Rockefeller Prize. He was given an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to the arts.

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