Balcerowicz, former deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and recently President of the National Bank of Poland, is a Professor of Economics at the Warsaw School of Economics. He was the chairman of Bruegel board from 2008 until 2012 and was appointed Honorary Chairman on 29 November 2012.

An economist by training, he has been at the centre of Poland's economic and political life since the fall of communism in Poland in 1989 and has earned a strong reputation in Europe and beyond for his commitment to Poland‘s economic renewal.

In September 1989 Leszek Balcerowicz became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in the first non-communist government in Poland after II World War. He was also President of the Economic Committee of the Council of Ministers. In this vital period in Poland's transition he designed and executed the radical stabilization and transformation of Polish economy. He retained his positions in the government until December 1991. From April 1995 to December 2000 he was the president of the Freedom Union, a free market - oriented party. From 1997 to June 2000 he was Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and President of the Economic Committee of the Council of Ministers. In January 2001, he was appointed to the post of the President of the National Bank of Poland.