Areas of Interest: international finance.
William R. Rhodes is a Brown University professor at large based at the Watson Institute and an emeritus member of the Institute's board of overseers. He is formerly senior vice chairman of Citigroup Inc. and of Citibank, and he continues to serve Citi as a senior advisor.
April 30, 2013: Interview on Bloomberg TV, "Will Mario Draghi take any action at all?"
April 15, 2013: Rhodes in The Times UK , "Eurozone's crisis of leadership"
March 26, 2013: Interview on Bloomberg, "Reopening banks key for Cyprus economy."
March 11, 2013: Rhodes for Reuters.com, "Without coordinated leadership, Europe will falter"
February 22, 2013: Rhodes in "International Financial Review", full eurozone solution required
January 2013: Lecture at the Japan Society
October 14, 2012: Interview on CNBC, "Unwinding of stimulus will not be easy"
C-Span biographical history and video appearances
Rhodes gained a reputation for international financial diplomacy in the 1980s for his leadership in helping manage the external debt crisis that involved developing nations and their creditors worldwide. During that period and in the 1990s, he headed the advisory committees of international banks that negotiated debt-restructuring agreements for Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay. In 1998, when the Republic of Korea experienced liquidity problems, he chaired the international bank group that negotiated the extension of short-term debt of the Korean banking system. In early 1999, at the request of the government of Brazil, he acted as worldwide coordinator to help implement the maintenance of trade and interbank lines by foreign commercial banks to Brazil.
He is a director of ConocoPhillips, director of Banamex, director of the Private Export Funding Corporation, first vice chairman of the Institute of International Finance, chairman of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas, chairman of the US-Korea Business Council, vice chairman of the board of the National Committee on US-China Relations, director of the US-Russia Business Council, director of the US-Hong Kong Business Council, member of the Inter-American Development Bank’s Private Sector Advisory Board, member of the International Policy Committee of the US Chamber of Commerce, and director of the Foreign Policy Association. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Group of Thirty, Economic Club of New York, and a founding member of the US National Advisory Council to the International Management Center in Budapest, Hungary.
He is a governor and trustee of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, a member of the Lincoln Center Consolidated Corporate Fund Leadership Committee, and a vice chairman of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Business Committee and Chairman's Committee. He is a chairman emeritus of the board of trustees of the Northfield Mount Hermon School.
He has received decorations and honors from various governments and institutions, including an honorary doctorate in humane letters from his alma mater Brown University, Chevalier and Officer of France's Legion of Honor, decorations from Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, and Jamaica, and multiple awards from not-for-profit organizations in recognition of his contributions to international banking and finance.
He graduated from Brown University in 1957.
