Sir James David Wolfensohn KBE, AO (1 December 1933 – 25 November 2020) was an Australian-American lawyer, investment banker, and economist who served as the ninth president of the World Bank Group (1995–2005).

In his other roles, he is credited with actions that brought Chrysler Corporation back from the brink of bankruptcy, and also improving the finances of major United States cultural institutions, including Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.

In high school, he was noted to have taken part in operas, including playing female roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.

Upon graduating from Harvard Business School, Wolfensohn worked briefly for Swiss cement giant Holderbank (now Holcim).

[12] He also worked for an air-conditioner company requiring him to travel across India, Nigeria, Greece, Mexico, Latin America, and other developing countries.

[14] In what has been described as the largest corporate bailout at that time, in addition to his banking skills he is noted to have played a role in smoothening a cultural rift between Lee Iacocca and Japanese Bankers, who went on to invest more than $600 million in the company.

[5] In 1980, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States, after it was rumored that he was a candidate to succeed Robert McNamara as president of the World Bank.

[5] In 2005, upon stepping down as president of the World Bank, he founded Wolfensohn & Company, LLC, a private firm that works with governments and large corporations doing business in emerging markets.

[16] In 2009, he became a member of the International Advisory Council of the Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation.

[19] Wolfensohn is credited, with among other things, having been the first World Bank president to bring attention to the problem of corruption in the area of development financing.

[21] His time at the Bank was also a period of shift from complex infrastructure projects in developing economies to social-sector led programs.

[22] He brought attention to contemporary Africa when he hosted the award-winning visual artist Ibiyinka Alao during the show "Visions and Vignettes" presented by the World Bank Art Program.

[26] In April 2005, Wolfensohn was appointed special envoy for Gaza disengagement by the Quartet on the Middle East, a group of major powers and the United Nations promoting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

[27] He resigned after 11 months as special envoy when he understood the United States government to be undermining his efforts and firing his staff.

Its projects focused on youth exclusion in the Middle East, large-scale anti-poverty programs, reforms of global economic governance, and regional cooperation, particularly in Central Asia.

He was chairman emeritus of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and also of the Carnegie Hall in New York City.

[33][34][35][17] Between 1985 and 2015 Wolfensohn attended 27 conferences of the Bilderberg Group, which rendered him one of the most frequent participants of the organization during this time period.

[5] In New York City, he once found himself at a Jerusalem Foundation lunch next to Dorothy de Rothschild, widow of James.

[42] Wolfensohn began cello studies with Jacqueline du Pré, a friend, at the age of 41 when she offered to teach him on the condition that he perform on his 50th birthday at Carnegie Hall in New York City, which he did.

[5] The University of New South Wales conferred an honorary degree of Doctor of Science on him in 2006, and he received the Award of Excellence from The International Center in New York.

[17][47][48] In 2006, Wolfensohn received the Leo Baeck Medal for his humanitarian work promoting tolerance and social justice.