Christine Lagarde

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will be the keynote speaker at Illinois Institute of Technology’s commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 16, 2015.

Madame Lagarde, a native of France who was appointed to her position at the IMF in July 2011, previously served as the French Finance Minister and as the country’s Minister of Foreign Trade. Internationally known as an anti-trust and labor lawyer, she was elected by the partnership of Baker & McKenzie as the firm’s chairman in 1999, a post she held until 2005. She holds degrees from Institute of Political Studies and from the Law School of Paris X University.