Jean-François Rischard was appointed as the World Bank's first Vice President for Europe in 1998. He represents the World Bank Group in its high-level partnerships and communications with European constituencies, including governments, parliaments, the private sector and non-governmental organizations. Mr. Rischard joined the World Bank in 1975 as a project officer for large-scale industry

In 1982 he joined the Financial Policy and Analysis Department, working on asset/liability management, and in 1984 became chief of Financial Management and Analysis.

In 1986 he joined Drexel Burnham Lambert as senior vice president for International Fixed Income Markets, where he helped develop the investment bank's then-embryonic sales and trading activities in the international bond markets.

He rejoined the World Bank in 1989 as director of the Investments Department, managing the institution's $25-billion, actively-traded liquid asset portfolio. In 1993, he was promoted to vice president of the new Finance and Private Sector Department which he built into a 300-strong staff serving the Bank's clients through specialized expertise in finance, privatization, infrastructure and urban development.

In 1997, his role expanded to encompass the Bank-wide network of 1,300 staff that operates in finance, private sector development and infrastructure throughout the Bank, who generated about half of the institution's lending, or roughly $15 billion in fiscal year 1998.

A Luxembourg national, Mr. Rischard holds graduate and post-graduate degrees in economics from the University of Aix-Marseille. He earned his doctorate in law from Luxembourg and his MBA from Harvard Business School.