Lorenzo Bini Smaghi has a PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago. From June 2005 to November 2011 he was a member of the Executive Committee of the European Central Bank. Before that, he served as Director General of the Directorate of International Financial Relations of Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance (1998-2005), head of the Analysis and Planning Division of the European Monetary Institute in Frankfurt (1988), head of the Exchange Rate and International Trade Division of the Research Department of the Bank of Italy (1988-1994). He is currently Chairman of Snam S.p.A. and Visiting Scholar at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.