Otmar Issing, born in 1936, was a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank from 1 June 1998 to 31 May 2006, responsible for the Directorates General Economics and Research. Until May 1998 he was a Member of the Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank with a seat in the Central Bank Council. Prior to that, he held Chairs of Economics at the Universities of Würzburg and Erlangen-Nürnberg. From 1988 to 1990 he was a member of the Council of Experts for the Assessment of Overall Economic Developments. He is an active member of Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur (Academy of Sciences and Literature), Mainz, and of the Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea (European Academy of Sciences and Arts). He has Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Bayreuth, Frankfurt and Konstanz. Current positions: President of the Center for Financial Studies, Frankfurt; Chairman Kuratorium Gesellschaft für Kapitalmarktforschung; Chairman Kuratorium House of Finance, Goethe University Frankfurt; Honorary Professorships at the University of Würzburg (1991) and the Goethe University Frankfurt (2007); Hochschulrat University of Würzburg; International Advisor Goldman Sachs. Memberships: Aufsichtsrat Nürnberger Lebensversicherung A.G. and Fürst Fugger Privatbank; Advisory Board of Globalisation and Monetary Policy Institute at Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas; Führungskreis Institute for European Affairs (INEA); Euro50 Group; International Advisory Council Bocconi University, Milan; Council for the Future of Europe (Berggruen Institute on Governance).