Okamoto set to join IMF as deputy MD

All is now 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 takes effect from March 30.

Okamoto is currently serving as the US Acting Assistant Treasury Secretary and will be replacing David Lipton, the former first Deputy MD who stepped down last month.

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

Before working with the US Treasury Department, he worked in the US 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 also 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 of Public Policy from Georgetown University with a 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.