biography
| name: |
Wolfensohn, Jim
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popular name of James D Wolfensohn
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1933– )
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| biography:
| President of the World Bank (1995– ), born in Sydney, New South Wales, SE Australia. He studied at Harvard, becoming a lawyer and an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force before entering banking. He worked in Australia, London, and New York, eventually establishing an investment bank in his own name. He was chairman of the board of Carnegie Hall (1980–91) and also of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC (1992–5). Under his tutelage, the World Bank has sought to find ways of reducing the burden of debt on the world's poorest countries. He became a US citizen, and was awarded an honorary UK knighthood in 1995. In 1956, he represented Australia as a member of the Olympic fencing team. |
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