William Witherell

 Dr. Witherell joined the Secretariat of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1977 and since 1989 has been Director for Financial, Fiscal and Enterprise Affairs – recently renamed Financial and Enterprise Affairs.  In that position he manages the Secretariat teams responsible for OECD activities in the following policy areas: financial markets, corporate governance, international investment and multinational enterprises, competition law and policy, insurance and pensions, bribery and anti-corruption, privatization, insolvency reform and, prior to January 2004, tax policy and administration. The Secretariat for the Financial Action Task Force (on money laundering) -- a separate institution -- is also part of his Directorate. He represents the OECD in the Financial Stability Forum.

 Dr. Witherell, a U.S. citizen, is a 1963 Graduate of Colby College and holds an M.A. (1965) and a Ph.D. (1967) in Economics from Princeton University.  Dr. Witherell began his career as a business economist with Exxon and Esso Eastern (1967-73), where he held positions in the economics, treasury and corporate planning functions.  He moved to the international economic and financial relations field in 1973 with positions first in the U.S. Department of State (under the President's Executive Interchange Program) and then in the Department of the Treasury (1974-77) as Director of the Office of Financial Resources and Energy Finance.