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 16 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.

In 2004 he received the International Prize of the Friedrich-August-von-Hayek-Stiftung, in 2004 the Bernhard-Harms-Medal of the Institute for World Economics, Kiel, 2005 the Hans-Möller-Medal of the University of Munich and 2006 the Ludwig-Erhard-Preis für Wirtschaftspublizistik. In 2006 he received the Große Verdienstkreuz des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. In the same year he was appointed Grand Officier de l`Ordre de Mérite du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg. In 2007 he received the Silver Insignia of the City of Würzburg. In 2010 he was awarded the Laurea Honoris Causa in International Economic Integration from the University of Pavia. In 2011 he received the Gustav Stolper Award of the Verein für Socialpolitik.

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).

In 2008 he was appointed Head of the Advisory Group on the New Financial Order by Chancellor Merkel. He also became a member of the High Level Group of the European Commission chaired by J. De Larosière.

In addition to publishing numerous articles in scientific journals and periodicals, he is the author of inter alia, two textbooks, namely “Einführung in die Geldtheorie” (Introduction to monetary theory), fifteenth edition 2011, and “Einführung in die Geldpolitik” (Introduction to monetary policy), sixth edition, 1996. “Der Euro – Geburt, Erfolg, Zukunft”, English “The Birth of the Euro” was published in 2008, Chinese edition 2011.

Issing was previously a member of the Council for the Future of Europe and The WorldPost Advisory Council.