[1][2][3] He assumed the post of acting managing director after Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested in May 2011 accused of sexual assault.

He retired from the IMF in November 2011 and is currently a distinguished visiting scholar at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

[7] Lipsky's great-grandfather, Henry Smulekoff, was a Ukrainian immigrant who opened a furniture store on Cedar Rapids' May's Island in 1890.

"[1] On September 1, 2006 he returned to the IMF as First Deputy Managing Director, succeeding the departing Anne Osborn Krueger.

[17] On 27 February that year, it was announced that he was joining the board of HSBC[18] Lipsky's unplanned accession at the IMF led quickly to his immersion in addressing the European and Greek sovereign debt crises, a high-profile role his predecessor had been playing.

At the 37th G8 summit held on 26–27 May 2011 in Deauville, France, Lipsky had to overcome Germany's reluctance to fund another round of bailouts for Greece.

He did so by threatening to withhold IMF disbursements, an action that would precipitate a Greek default – an option none was ready to accept at that point.