12 Facts About Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa

Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa previously served as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank from 1998 to 2005.

Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa was a former member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group.

Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa was born in the mountain town of Belluno in north-eastern Italy.

Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa's father, Fabio, whom he did not meet until after the war in 1945, was a teacher and later became a senior executive at the insurance company Assicurazioni Generali.

Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa graduated from Bocconi University in 1966 and received a master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970.

Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa was a member of the European Central Bank's six-member executive board from its foundation in 1998 until the end of May 2005.

Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa was married to the economist Fiorella Kostoris; they have three children.

In 2006, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa coined the expression "il tesoretto" to describe the increased government revenues under his administration.

Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa used the ironic or sarcastic term "bamboccioni" and this created a big fuss in Italian public opinion.

Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa has been called the "intellectual impetus" behind the Euro and the "founding father" of the new currency.

Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa proposed that the third objective be abandoned, by creating a single currency and a single European central bank, so that the other three objectives could be attained.

Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa worked on designing and setting up the new European Central Bank and became one of the first executive board members.