Richard McCormack

Amb. Richard McCormack, Vice Chairman at Merrill Lynch, joined CSIS in May 2004 as a senior adviser. A long-term high-level adviser to political leaders and senior government officials, McCormack’s primary focus is geopolitics and the global economy. Among his principal interests is the role of the international financial institutions in preventing and containing financial crises, and policy reforms in selected economies. During the administration of President George H.W. Bush, Amb. McCormack served as Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs and as the principal coordinator for the president’s involvement in the G-7 economic summits. He was awarded the State Department’s highest award by then-Secretary of State James A. Baker. Amb. McCormack also received the French Legion of Honor. McCormack received the superior honor award for outstanding sustained performance as the U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States. Prior to that, he was Assistant Secretary of State for Economics and Business.

Earlier in his career, McCormack served as a policy analyst in both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. He was deputy to the Assistant Secretary of Treasury. He also served as a senior staff member of the President's Advisory Council on Executive Organization at the White House, where he had lead responsibilities for developing the rationale and structure for the Council on International Economic Policy.

From 1975-1977, he was a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

Prior to joining CSIS, Ambassador McCormack was a counselor at the Center for the Study of the Presidency, a member of the State Department’s Advisory Commission on Africa, and a consultant/adviser to the managing director of the International Monetary Fund. He received his Ph.D. magna cum laude from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland and his B.A. degree from Georgetown University.

Ambassador McCormack is a member of the Economic Club of New York. He has authored numerous publications, most recently on the U.S. Current Account Deficits and U.S.- China Economic Relations.

Testimony on the Role of Financial Risk, Derivatives, and Hedge Funds in Capital Markets
Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
May 16, 2006

Testimony for U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, 2005
May 19, 2005

Opportunities and Risk in Globalized Financial Markets
Speech given in Liechtenstein
October 27, 2005