Mr Plutarchos Sakellaris has been appointed Vice President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) with effect from 1 August 2008. His responsibilities on the EIB’s Management Committee include supervising financing operations in Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and South Africa. Mr Sakellaris also assumes responsibility for the EIB’s activity reflecting its energy policy and the Bank’s Economic and Financial Studies division.

Prior to joining the Bank, Plutarchos Sakellaris held the position of Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers at the Hellenic Ministry of Economy and Finance and Professor in the Department of Economics at the Athens University of Economics and Business.

Mr Sakellaris has represented Greece on a number of high-level international committees. He was the Greek member at the EU Economic and Financial Committee and served as Deputy at the Eurogroup and ECOFIN Councils. He has also been the Alternate Governor for Greece at the World Bank and served on the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Greece, the Hellenic Public Debt Management Agency and the Institute for Economic and Industrial Research.

Over the course of his career, the EIB’s new VP has taught in economics departments of many universities, including the University of Maryland (USA), the University of Ioannina (Greece), Central European University (Budapest), University of Munich (Germany) and University of Yale (USA). He has also worked as staff economist at the US Federal Reserve Board and as visiting expert at the European Central Bank.

Mr Sakellaris completed his studies in the US and holds an undergraduate degree from Brandeis University and a doctorate from Yale University. He has authored a number of papers on monetary policy, productivity, investment in physical capital, the industrial sector and education.

Plutarchos Sakellaris was born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1964 and is married with two daughters and a son.

Background:

The Management Committee is the EIB’s permanent collegiate executive body, consisting of a President and eight Vice Presidents. The members of the Management Committee are appointed by the Board of Governors - the Finance Ministers of the 27 EU Member States - for up to six years.

Under the authority of Mr Philippe Maystadt, President of the EIB, the Management Committee collectively oversees the day-to-day running of the EIB as well as preparing and ensuring the implementation of the Board of Directors' decisions, notably regarding borrowing and lending operations.

The EIB's Management Committee is based in Luxembourg.