Dartmouth President Is Obama’s Pick for World Bank
Source: New York Times
By JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr.
Published: March 23, 2012
WASHINGTON President Obama is nominating Jim Yong Kim, a physician who has been president of Dartmouth College for three years, to head the World Bank, the White House said Friday.
The nomination of Dr. Kim, who helped found Partners in Health and directed the World Health Organizations department of H.I.V./AIDS, would recognize the importance of health issues in global development, elevating them to parity with finance. His work has emphasized bringing effective medicine to the poor.
The choice was a surprise. Leading candidates had included Laura DAndrea Tyson, an economist and former head of the Presidents Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton administration. Unlike recent World Bank presidents, Dr. Kim is not a former banker or policy maker in the United States government.
President Obama was to make the announcement at the White House Friday morning before leaving for a summit meeting in South Korea tonight.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/24/business/global/dartmouth-president-is-obamas-pick-for-world-bank.html
JustAnotherGen
(31,879 posts)Hopefully our 'candidate' will be placed in that position. And I love that this candidate 'gets' poverty, illness at a Global Level. It's time the W.B. had a non-banker leading it.
Myrina
(12,296 posts)Isn't that like putting an accountant in an operating room? Weird.
Response to Myrina (Reply #2)
Post removed
onenote
(42,759 posts)mainer
(12,029 posts)We already know about the ethics of bankers.
cstanleytech
(26,319 posts)JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)Accountants should not run organizations. The World Bank can afford as many of those as it needs. Someonw with vision should be in charge.
Owlet
(1,248 posts)Dr. Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1952.
"President Obama was to make the announcement at the White House Friday morning before leaving for a summit meeting in South Korea tonight. "
LibertyLover
(4,788 posts)Dr. Kim has done development work and that will be a benefit in being president of The World Bank Group. And if I have to retire in 3 years at age 62, I'd prefer my retirement photo get taken with him. My 10 year anniversary photo was with Wolfowitz. I never opened it. It may still be someplace in my office. I'll probably find it when I clean out my desk.
Also, he has a sense of humor, and rhythm. Important for the job.
http://www.ivygateblog.com/2011/03/dartmouths-prez-kim-debuts-as-a-rapping-spaceman/
mainer
(12,029 posts)I'd rather have him than a banker any day.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,361 posts)In 2008, I interviewed Ngozi for Portfolio magazine. Which means that I went down to Washington and got escorted in to her office. She then arrived, I asked her one short question, she gave me a fluent and wonderful 2,000-word answer while barely pausing for breath, and then she left for a meeting with Bob Zoellick.
Its been five years since I first said that Ngozi would make an excellent World Bank president, and this nomination is long overdue. Whats more, she will have a lot of support within the World Banks board the body which ultimately will make the decision as to whom to choose.
Of course, the board members do what theyre told to do by the banks shareholders the worlds countries. And if the Europeans and the Americans all vote for the US candidate, then the US candidate will win. Thats the simple truth. But heres the thing: everybody on the board pays at least a modicum of lip service to the idea that the job will go to the best candidate. When Christine Lagarde took over at the IMF, she got the job because she was European, and the European candidate always gets the job. But at the same time, everybody voting for her could say with a straight face that she was, in fact, the best candidate as well.
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/03/22/the-ideal-nominee-for-world-bank-president/
Felix Salmon didn't even consider Dr. Kim; but I presume he would think a non-banker is not as qualified as Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was the managing director of the World Bank until last year.
My guess is that Obama will say to the European nations "look, we supported Lagarde for the IMF, even though there was strong pressure for a change from the US/European hold on the head of each organisation - you've got to support us now"; and Europe will fall in line. But I wonder when the duopoly will actually get broken, in that case.
Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)I like the out-of-the-box thinking on this.
Now to revisit some econ appointments....
pampango
(24,692 posts)President Obama today nominated Dartmouth University President Jim Yong Kim to be the next president of the World Bank, replacing the outgoing Robert Zoellick. Kims name was not among those featured most prominently in the speculation surrounding Obamas choice, with former administration economic adviser Larry Summers, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former administration economist Laura Tyson, and Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi leading the list. Here are the notable facts and figures about Kims life and career:
Hes currently president of Dartmouth College, the first physician to hold that position and the first Asian-American to lead an Ivy League college.
Kim co-founded the Partners in Health (PIH), a non-profit that focused on drug-resistant tuberculosis and helped drive down the cost of medication so that treatment could be widely available.
He is also a former director of the Department of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organization (WHO).
Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1959, but grew up in Muscatine, Iowa after his family moved when he was 5. He earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical Scool in 1991 and a doctorate in anthropology from Harvard University in 1993.
(more at the link)
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/03/23/450612/meet-jim-yong-kim-world-bank/
Jeneral2885
(1,354 posts)An Anthropologist like Kim has little knowledge or IBRD work or IDA replenishments. He has to learn fast if selected.
joshcryer
(62,276 posts)Had it been someone bad we'd have 50+ threads here bemoaning Obama, but a good pick like this garners, only a few threads.
It's telling to be sure.
joshcryer
(62,276 posts)Holy shit I like this guy so much.