Pascal Lamy served two terms as Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from September 2005 to September 2013. He is Honorary President of the Paris-based think tank, Notre Europe.
He graduated from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) in Paris, the Institut d'Etudes Politiques (IEP) and the Ecole Nationale d' Administration (ENA).
He began his career in the French civil service at the General Inspectorate of Finance and at the Treasury. In 1981 he became advisor of the Minister of Economy and Finance, Jacques Delors, then Deputy Head of Prime Minister’s Pierre Mauroy cabinet in 1983.
Between 1985 and 1994, Pascal Lamy was Head of the President of the European Commission’s Cabinet, Jacques Delors, and its "sherpa" at the G- 7.
In 1994 he joined the team in charge of the recovery of the French bank Crédit Lyonnais then becoming its CEO up to its privatization in 1999. He then returned to the European Commission having been appointed as Commissioner for Trade under the presidency of Romano Prodi.
After his mandate in Brussels, for a short sabbatical period Pascal Lamy chaired "Notre Europe", a think tank created by Jacques Delors that focuses on European integration. He also became associate professor at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and advisor to Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, President of the European Socialist Party.
Pascal Lamy also proved his commitment to the European Union and its vision of globalization through several publications:
• Quand la France s’éveillera (Odile Jacob, 2014)
• The Geneva Consensus, (Cambridge University Press, 2013)
• Now for the Long Term (Report of the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations, 2013)
• La Démocratie-monde – Pour une autre gouvernance globale (Seuil, 2004)
• L'Europe en première ligne (Seuil, 2002)
• L'Europe de nos volontés (with J. Pisani- Ferry, Plon, 2002 The Europe we want, Arch Press / The Policy Network, 2002)
• Report "Monde-Europe", chaired by P. Lamy in the XIth plan of the Commissariat général du Plan (Dunod, 1993)
He received honorary degrees from eight universities as well as several awards and decorations from the French government and other countries world-wide.
Pascal Lamy is currently Honorary President of Notre Europe - Jacques Delors Institute, President of the World Committee of Tourism Ethics, President of the Oxford Martin School’s Commission on future challenges, Vice-President of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), member of the Global Ocean Commission and of UNAIDS and Lancet Commission, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble (Orchestra Marc Minkowski), member of the Board of Directors of the Fondation nationale des Sciences politiques and of the Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company, member of the Advisory Board of Transparency International, affiliated Professor at HEC Paris et Strategic Advisor of the Simone Veil Governance Center for Europe (Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance, Berlin).