Thursday, Mar. 29, 2012

Mario Draghi

Age: 64
Occupation: President, European Central Bank

In contrast to his austere, inflexible predecessor Jean-Claude Trichet, most observers credit Draghi with creating innovative ideas to help calm the euro tempest. Under Draghi, the ECB extended European banks around $1 trillion in supercheap loans that both eased Europe's hardening credit crunch and spurred renewed purchases of bonds issued by debt-swamped euro-zone governments. In doing so, Draghi made the ECB an effective actor in the debt crisis despite Germany's refusal to intervene directly by buying billions in bonds.