Washington, D.C. — Dan Katz, Chief of Staff to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, is set to be nominated by the Trump administration as the next First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The move positions Katz as the most senior American at the global financial institution and is being hailed by some insiders as a major victory for President Trump’s “America First” economic agenda.
Katz, a former senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a Yale graduate, joined the Treasury Department earlier this year. He will report directly to IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, a Bulgarian economist and former European Commissioner who has led the Fund since 2019.
“This is a big win for President Trump’s economic vision on the global stage,” said one source. “Dan is one of Bessent’s closest confidantes.”
His nomination comes as the IMF’s No. 2 role remains vacant following the departure of Gita Gopinath, who was appointed under the Biden administration and stepped down last month to return to her academic post at Harvard University.
Sources say Georgieva is expected to approve the nomination, as Americans have traditionally held the First Deputy Managing Director role under a long-standing U.S.-European agreement. The formal announcement from the IMF is expected Friday, followed by a two-week comment period. If there are no objections, Katz would be formally appointed by Georgieva shortly thereafter.
Katz is no stranger to global finance. Before joining the Trump administration, he worked at Goldman Sachs and played a key role in shaping the U.S.-Ukraine economic partnership. He is also regarded as Bessent’s “point man” on China policy. His personal connections to the financial world run deep—his 2019 wedding in Riverside, Connecticut, was officiated by Lord Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England.
His expected appointment comes at a time of growing criticism of the IMF from conservative U.S. policymakers. In a recent speech, Bessent accused the Fund of straying from its core mission, saying it has focused too heavily on issues like climate change, gender, and social equity.
“The IMF has been whistling past the graveyard,” Bessent said during remarks at the Institute of International Finance Forum in April. “It devotes disproportionate time and resources to work on climate change, gender, and social issues, which is crowding out its work on critical macroeconomic issues.”
Signs of internal restructuring at the IMF are already emerging. Last week, sources confirmed that the Fund plans to dissolve its standalone climate and gender units, merging them into its broader macroeconomic division. Bloomberg News first reported those changes.
The IMF, founded in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference, has long operated under an informal transatlantic power-sharing agreement: the U.S. supports a European to lead the Fund, while an American typically heads the World Bank.
Despite its lofty mission to stabilize the global economy and assist debt-burdened nations, the IMF has also come under scrutiny for the privileges its officials enjoy. As The Post reported last December, staffers at the institution are offered perks such as discounted memberships at elite Maryland golf and country clubs—luxuries far out of reach for many citizens in countries receiving IMF loans.
The IMF and Treasury Department both declined to comment on the pending nomination.
