The ultimate champion for global prosperity

One of the most powerful economists in the world jumpstarted her career with a bachelor’s degree from FIU. Cuban-born, Miami-raised Carmen M. Reinhart ’75 is chief economist of the World Bank, an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries to alleviate poverty. She assumed the role at the height of the global pandemic and a time of unprecedented financial crisis. 

An expert in international finance and macroeconomics, she is ranked among the top economists worldwide based on publications — including the best-selling, co-authored “This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Recurring Financial Folly,” translated into 20 languages — on topics such as exchange rate policy, banking and sovereign debt crises.

Reinhart has been listed among the Most Influential 50 in Finance by Bloomberg Markets, the Top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine and the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds by Thomson Reuters. She serves on the advisory panels of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the International Monetary Fund and in the 1980s was chief economist and a vice president at a global investment firm. She holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and is a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School.

"I had a very positive experience at FIU. It helped me prepare for graduate school [at Columbia University]. I have very fond memories. I had wonderful professors."