James D. Wolfensohn is currently Chairman of Wolfensohn & Company, LLC, a private investment and advisory firm; Chairman of Citi International Advisory Board; and advisor to Citi on global strategy and international matters.  Mr. Wolfensohn was the ninth president of the World Bank Group (1995-2005) and the third president in the Bank’s history to be reappointed for a second term.  He served as Special Envoy for Gaza Disengagement for the Quartet on the Middle East (2005-2006) and founded in 2006 the Wolfensohn Center for Development at the Brookings Institution to focus on global poverty. 

 
As World Bank President, he travelled to over 120 countries to advocate tirelessly for poverty reduction and human dignity.  He led successfully initiatives on debt reduction, environmental sustainability, anti corruption, and AIDS prevention and treatment.  He pioneered activities on religion and culture, and decentralised Bank offices, linking them though the most modern telecommunications system in the international community. 

Prior to joining the World Bank, Mr. Wolfensohn held senior positions in international finance, including President and Chief Executive Officer of James D. Wolfensohn, Inc., his own investment and corporate advisory firm; Executive Partner of Salomon Brothers in New York and head of its investment banking department; Executive Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Schroders Ltd. in London; President of J. Henry Schroders Banking Corporation in New York; and Managing Director of Darling & Co. of Australia.

Throughout his life, Mr. Wolfensohn has been actively involved in cultural and philanthropic activities, including Chairman of the Board of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University; member and chair of the Board of Carnegie Hall in New York; Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.  He is now Chairman Emeritus of both Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.  Mr. Wolfensohn has been President of the International Federation of Multiple Sclerosis Societies, Director of the Business Council for Sustainable Development, Chairman of the Finance Committee and Director of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Population Council, and member of the Board of Rockefeller University.  He is an Honorary Trustee of the Brookings Institution, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Century Association in New York, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the American Philosophical Society.

Mr. Wolfensohn was awarded an Honorary Knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to the arts (1995).  He has been decorated by the Governments of Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, Japan, Germany, Georgia, Mexico, Morocco, The Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Pakistan and Russia. He has received many awards for his volunteer work, including the first David Rockefeller Prize of the Museum of Modern Art in New York for his work for culture and the arts and he has been recognized by Harvard Business School as an Outstanding Alumnus.

Born in Australia, Mr. Wolfensohn is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He and his wife, Elaine, an education specialist and a graduate of Wellesley and Columbia University have three children.