Alain Godard appointed as Chief Executive of the European Investment Fund

The Board of Directors of the European Investment Fund (EIF) has appointed Mr Alain Godard as Chief Executive of the European Investment Fund. He will take up his duties on 1st January 2020 and succeeds Pier Luigi Gilibert.

Commenting on the appointment, Dario Scannapieco, Vice President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Chairman of the EIF Board of Directors said: “I am delighted to announce the appointment of Alain Godard as the new EIF Chief Executive. His institutional and operational experience and knowledge of the EIB Group will be of great value in continuing to drive EIF’s future growth. In addition, he will build on the collaboration between EIB and EIF in order to use their complementarity to further strengthen the EIB Group’s support for SMEs in Europe.”

“I would like to thank Pier Luigi Gilibert for his achievements over almost 6 years, a period over which the organisation has more than doubled in size. Under Pier Luigi’s stewardship, the EIF’s business volume has grown from one record year to another, delivering on strategic mandates including the swift and successful deployment of the Juncker Plan’s EFSI-SME Window. Thanks to Pier Luigi’s dedication and strong leadership, the EIF has been able to generate double digit annual volumes in billion Euros, reaching EUR 10.1 billion last year, whilst continuously improving access to finance for European SMEs.”

Alain Godard was previously the Director General responsible for the Risk Directorate at the European Investment Bank as well as a member of the Board of Directors Committee dedicated to risk policy. In 2015, Alain Godard contributed to the design and the implementation of the European Investment Plan (EIP) and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). In 2010, Alain Godard was one of the architects for the establishment of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).

Alain Godard has also been founder and chairman since 2008 of the Global Emerging Markets (GEMs), an international consortium bringing together multilateral development banks, international financial institutions and national promotional banks working to promote investments in emerging countries by sharing expertise and financial data. GEMs is a tool at the service of the European development policy that promotes the public and private investment of European companies in emerging and developing countries.

Alain Godard has held various financial positions at the EIB since he joined in 1994, after a career in management consulting in Paris and London. He holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Finance and an MBA from the Institut Commercial de Nancy. He is a Certified Accountant and alumni of the Executive Program of IMD (International Institute for Management Development).

Background information:
The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment.

Press contact:
EIF: David Yormesor
Tel: + 352 43 79 83 668
E-Mail: d.yormesor@eif.org