Lipsky also serves on the Board of Directors of the National Bureau of Economic Research . His other professional activities have included serving on the Board of Directors of the American Council on Germany , the Japan Society , the Advisory Board of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research , and the Council on Foreign Relations . On 27 February that year , it was announced that he was joining the board of HSBC 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 . In the " bitter infighting , " Lipsky was characterized in '' The Guardian '' as " less silky , much blunter " than Strauss-Kahn
37th G8 summit
37th G8 summit
John Lipsky