H. Onno Ruding was born in Breda, The Netherlands, on August 15, 1939. He worked at the Ministry of Finance, The Hague (1965-1970), Amsterdam-Rotterdam Bank (AMRO Bank), Amsterdam (1971-1976) and, later, as a member of the Board of Managing Directors of AMRO. He was Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington, D.C. from 1977-1980. From November 1982 until November 1989 he served as the Minister of Finance of The Netherlands, for the Christian Democratic Party (CDA). From 1990 until 1992 Onno Ruding was Chairman of the Netherlands Christian Federation of Employers (NCW). From 1992 till 2003 Mr. Ruding was Vice Chairman of Citicorp/Citibank in New York. In 2002 he became Chairman of the Board of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels, the largest independent think-tank in Europe. He is a (nonexecutive) Director of Corning Inc., Corning, RTL Group, Luxemburg and Holcim, Zurich and Chairman of the Board of Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten (BNG), The Hague, as well as a member of the International Advisory Board of Citigroup, New York. Dr. Ruding is a member of the Trilateral Commission and the Pontifical Council Justice and Peace, Rome. He is Chairman of the Board of the National Museum Palace Het Loo, Apeldoorn.