WASHINGTON, D.C. – April 16, 2025 – The Atlantic Council will host an unprecedented forty-five events during the 2025 IMF–World Bank Spring Meetings, from April 21 to 25, underscoring its role as a central convening space for the world’s most influential economic leaders navigating a rapidly shifting global economy.  

As part of its Bretton Woods 2.0 project, the Council will also launch new research next week designed to outline the way forward to reform and revitalize the international financial system.  

“Seldom has been this much global attention focused on the annual spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank,” said Frederick Kempe, president and CEO of the Atlantic Council. “Rising to that challenge, the Atlantic Council’s programming shines a spotlight on global trade wars and shocks to the global economy, with events focused on increased protectionism, the future of the dollar, and the growth of alternative payment systems.” 

More than twenty finance ministers and central bank governors will participate in events hosted at both the Atlantic Council’s global headquarters and at the Atlantic Council Studios inside the IMF Headquarters.  These leaders will address US-Chinese relations, global trade, sovereign debt, digital currencies, economic statecraft, and the next chapter for the Bretton Woods system which is facing one of the most significant challenges since its creations in 1944. The week’s Atlantic Council events will also feature private sector leaders including an Atlantic Council Front Page with Nasdaq President and CEO Adena Friedman. 

These events reflect the deep bench of expertise across the Atlantic Council’s sixteen programs and centers, whose analysis and insight continue to shape the global conversation on economic and financial challenges.

In conjunction with this landmark week, the Atlantic Council named Josh Lipsky as its first Chair of International Economics. He will continue in his role as senior director of the GeoEconomics Center. Lipsky has elevated the Council’s international economics work since the center’s launch in December 2020, making it one of the world’s leading authorities on the nexus of finance and foreign policy.   

“In this new role,” said Kempe, “Josh will provide enhanced leadership across the Atlantic Council, connecting the dots between international economics and security across our sixteen programs and centers, all of which are in some manner navigating economic and financial shifts.”  

Prior to joining the Atlantic Council in 2020, Lipsky was an advisor and speechwriter to then-IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. He previously served at the State Department as a special advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, and at the White House, where he helped plan President Barack Obama’s participation at global summits. A graduate of Georgetown Law School and Harvard’s Kennedy School, he also worked on Capitol Hill and at the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. 

For more information and a full schedule of events and to follow our live analysis throughout the week, please visit: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/imf-world-bank-week/   

###

About the Atlantic Council

The Atlantic Council promotes constructive leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the Atlantic community’s central role in meeting global challenges. The Council provides an essential forum for navigating the dramatic economic and political changes defining the twenty-first century by informing and galvanizing its uniquely influential network of global leaders. The Atlantic Council—through the papers it publishes, the ideas it generates, the future leaders it develops, and the communities it builds—shapes policy choices and strategies to create a more free, secure, and prosperous world. 

About the GeoEconomics Center

The GeoEconomics Center develops data-driven programs, publications, and thought leadership at the nexus of economics, finance, and foreign policy. The Center aims to bridge the divide between these oft-siloed sectors with the goal of helping shape a more resilient global economy. Our work is built on the idea that the United States must lead with allies or risk becoming a bystander in a reshaped international financial system. The Center is organized around three pillars – the Future of Capitalism, the Future of Money, and the Economic Statecraft Initiative.