Okamoto set to join IMF as Deputy Managing Director

All is set for Geoffrey Okamoto to join the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as its Deputy Managing Director as proposed by the global lender’s Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva.

The appointment will take effect from March 30 and it is subject to approval by the IMF’s Executive Board.

He is currently serving as the US Acting Assistant Treasury Secretary and he will replace David Lipton who is the former first Deputy MD who stepped down last month.

Okamoto has worked as the U.S. Treasury’s Acting Under Secretary for International Affairs. He led the Treasury Department’s negotiations on trade with China which resulted in Phase I agreement signed in January 2020.

Before working with the U.S. Treasury Department, he worked in the U.S. Senate, where he served as the Majority Staff Director for the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions. He was also the Policy Director for the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade. He was a consultant with KPMG, advising financial institutions on risk management and internal controls.

Okamoto has served as chairman of the Board for Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, an Atlantik-Brücke Young Leader, a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations Congressional Study Group, and a guest lecturer at Georgetown on financial stability and international economics.

He holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University, with  concentration in banking, fiscal, and monetary affairs as well as a Bachelor of Science from California State Polytechnic University. He also studied at Corpus Christi College, Oxford.