Wolfensohn, James D.

▪ 1996

      "I have learned that the real test of development can be measured not by the bureaucratic approval process but by the smile on a child's face when a project is successful," said James Wolfensohn, the new president of the World Bank, in addressing that organization's annual meeting in October 1995. Yet Wolfensohn—who became the Bank's ninth president on June 1, 1995, when Lewis Preston retired because of ill health—desperately needed the approval of a budget-minded U.S. Congress, which appeared ready to slash contributions to the Bank's "soft loan" window, the International Development Association. The IDA, which financed development projects for the world's poorest nations on extremely generous terms, made up more than $6.6 billion of the $22.5 billion the Bank lent less developed countries in fiscal 1995. (The Bank's International Bank of Reconstruction and Development lent money at market rates.) Having seen firsthand the invaluable benefits provided by IDA-funded projects while traveling to 24 countries during his first months in office, Wolfensohn lobbied hard against the congressional spending cuts. He feared that if the U.S. reduced its contributions to the IDA's replenishment fund, other donor nations would follow suit, putting the "whole field of development in turmoil."

      Wolfensohn, who was born on Dec. 1, 1933, in Sydney, Australia, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1980. He was a veteran of the Royal Australian Air Force and a member of the 1956 Australian Olympic fencing team and was educated at the University of Sydney (B.A., 1954; LL.B, 1957) and Harvard University (M.B.A., 1959). During a distinguished career in investment banking, he oversaw the restructuring of the Chrysler Corp. while working at Salomon Brothers, and for 14 years he served as president and chief executive officer of James D. Wolfensohn Inc., an investment company that did between $8 million and $10 million of business annually. A philanthropist as well as an accomplished cellist, Wolfensohn served as the chairman (1980-91) of New York City's Carnegie Hall, overseeing its remodeling, and as chairman (1990-95) of the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.

      As president, his goal was to become the Bank's first president since Robert McNamara (1968-81) to serve more than one five-year term and to change the culture of the institution. Rather than measuring success by the volume of loans, he tried to shift the Bank's emphasis back to alleviating poverty, creating sustainable development, and attaining social justice.

      (JEFF WALLENFELDT)

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