WASHINGTON — President Bush nominated Utahn Randal Quarles Friday to become the new U.S. executive director at the International Monetary Fund.
If confirmed by the Senate, Quarles would become a quasi-ambassador to a body considered somewhat of an economic United Nations. It has made high-profile loans in recent years to help fend off failure of economies in Mexico, Russia and Southeast Asia.
The IMF, based in Washington, D.C., has 183 member nations. The body is governed by 24 executive directors. The six largest nations each have one director, and the other nations elect directors from regions.
In the IMF, votes are cast according to the amount of money a nation has put into the fund. The United States has 18 percent of the votes, giving it a virtual veto over actions by the fund.
Quarles was reared in Roy and is a 1975 graduate of Roy High School. He received a bachelor's degree in philosophy and economics from Columbia University in 1981. He received a law degree from Yale in 1984. He also served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Quebec, Canada.
He is a partner in the international law firm of Davis Polk and Wardwell, and is co-head of its Financial Institutions Group. He has worked in the firms offices in New York City and London. He has residences in Salt Lake City and New York.
During the first Bush administration, Quarles left that firm temporarily to serve first as a special assistant to the secretary of the treasury, and later as deputy assistant secretary of the treasury for financial institutions policy.
Quarles's nomination now goes to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for consideration.
The IMF and the World Bank have been targeted by protesters during the past year who claim that their policies encourage poverty in Third World nations and dictate economic policies to world governments.
Official IMF goals, however, say it was formed in 1964 to promote international monetary cooperation, exchange stability and orderly exchange arrangements, plus foster economic growth and high levels of employment plus provide temporary financial assistance to countries facing severe economic problems.
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