Asia Hands Society’s Online Event
featuring
William R. Rhodes
President and CEO of William R. Rhodes, Global Advisors, LLC
and former Chairman and CEO, Citibank
Asia Hands Society is delighted to host Bill Rhodes, former Chairman and CEO of Citibank, for an online event on Thursday, June 9. Inter alia, Mr. Rhodes will address the topic of China in its role as both a global partner and adversary. As one of the most influential international bankers of his generation, you will not want to miss his remarks on America’s foremost competitor and largest trading relationship.
Mr. Rhodes spent his early years gaining increasing responsibility at Citi’s operations in Latin America. By the mid-1980s, he was renowned as the leader of international debt-restructuring efforts in numerous countries in that region. In 1998, he led efforts to address liquidity problems in the Republic of Korea banking system. He went on to hold numerous senior positions at Citi including Vice Chairman and Senior Risk Officer of Citicorp and Citibank and later as President. He retired in 2010 but remained a senior advisor until 2017. His book, Banker to the World: Leadership Lessons from the Front Lines of Global Finance, has been translated into several languages.
William R. Rhodes Biography
Bill Rhodes is President & CEO, William R. Rhodes Global Advisors, LLC which was founded in 2010. Having stepped back from full time responsibilities with Citi after more than 53 years with the institution. He most recently served as senior advisor, senior vice chairman and senior international officer of Citigroup and Chairman, President & CEO of Citibank, N.A. before his retirement in 2010. Subsequent to his retirement, he continued to serve as a senior advisor to Citi from 2010 through 2017.
Mr. Rhodes gained a reputation for international financial diplomacy in the 1980s and 1990s as a result of his leadership in helping manage the external-debt crisis that involved developing nations and their creditors worldwide. He headed the advisory committees of international banks that negotiated debt-restructuring agreements for Argentina, Brazil, Iraq, Jamaica, Korea, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Uruguay. He has since served as a trusted advisor to governments, financial officials, and corporations worldwide. In 2011, Rhodes published Banker to the World: Leadership Lessons from the Front Lines of Global Finance.
Mr. Rhodes is a Life Trustee of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital; where he has established the William Rhodes and Louise Tilzer-Rhodes Center for Glioblastoma; a member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Chairman's Council and a vice chairman of the Business Committee. He is chairman emeritus of the Board of Trustees of the Northfield Mount Hermon School where he helped establish the Rhodes Arts Center. He also received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from his alma mater Brown University, where he established the William R. Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance
He has received decorations and honors from various governments and institutions, including Officer and Chevalier of France's Legion of Honor; decorations from Poland, Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Jamaica; and multiple awards from not-for-profit organizations such as the Africa-America Institute, Arab Bankers Association of North America, the America-Israel Friendship League and Sciences Po Foundation, Pro Mujer, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Boy’s Scouts Award and the Foreign Policy Association Award in recognition of his contributions to international banking and finance.
Mr. Rhodes is a director of the Private Export Funding Corporation; Senior Advisor Emeritus to Oliver Wyman; a member of chairman’s advisory council and Senior Fellow for The Hudson Institute; member of the board of directors for The Volker Alliance; chairman emeritus of the U.S.-Korea Business Council; vice chairman of the National Committee on U.S. - China Relations; a director of the Korea Society; a director of the American Friends Musée d'Orsay, Ambassador to the Notre-Dame de Paris Circle of Ambassadors, and a member of the board at the Foreign Policy Association. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, The Group of Thirty, the Advisory Council of the Brazilian American Chamber of Commerce, Vice-Chairman Bretton Woods Committee, member of the Center on Capitalism and Society at Columbia University and Chairman of the Center for Financial Stability Advisory Board. He is the first vice chairman emeritus of the Institute of International Finance and chairman emeritus and member of the board of Directors of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas. He previously served as chairman of the New York Blood Center, the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade and the U.S. Hong Kong Business Council.