Master of Laws (KU Leuven, 1987)
Master of Economic Sciences (KU Leuven, 1988)
Bachelor’s degree in Political Science (KU Leuven, 1985)
Master of Philosophy (KU Leuven, 2015)
Master of History (KU Leuven, 2019)
Professional career
Attaché at Kredietbank (1987-1988)
Attaché at BACOB Spaarbank and advisor in the Research Centre of CEPESS (1988-1989)
Advisor to Herman Van Rompuy, chairman of the CVP (1990-1991)
Deputy chief of staff to Jos Chabert, minister of the Brussels-Capital Region, in charge of the Budget, Finance, the Civil service and External Affairs (1991-1993)
Director-general of the Port of Brussels (1993-2000)
Chief of staff to Jos Chabert minister of the Brussels-Capital Region, in charge of the Budget, Finance, Economic affairs and External Affairs (1995-1999)
Deputy director-general of the Brussels public transport company MIVB (2000-2005)
Member of the Flemish Parliament (2004-2007)
Minister of Welfare, Public Health and Family in the Flemish government (2007-2008)
Deputy Prime minister in the Belgian federal government,
In charge of the Civil service, Public enterprise and Institutional reform (2008-2009)
Foreign affairs and Institutional reform (2009-2011)
Finance and Sustainable development (2011-2013)
Member of the Belgian federal Parliament (2013-2014)
Senator, chairman of the parliamentary party and chairman of the committee Regional affairs in the Senate (2014-2019)
Academic manager of KU Leuven campus Brussel and Sint-Lucas Brussel (2015-2018)
Director of the National Bank of Belgium (02.01.2019)
Vice-Governor of the National Bank of Belgium (19.04.2021)
Current functions or mandates
High Council of Finance
Member of the "Public sector borrowing requirements" section as from 07.04.2019
Conseil supérieur de l'emploi
Vice-chairman as from 26.04.2019
National Accounts Insitute
Member of the Board of Directors as from 02.01.2019
Institut interfédéral de statistique
Member of the Board of Directors as from 02.01.2019
National Bank of Belgium
Member of the Resolution College as from 02.01.2019
Single Resolution Board
Member as from 02.01.2019
Past functions or mandates
Ancienne Belgique vzw
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Erasmushogeschool Brussel
Member of the Board of Directors
TV-Brussel vzw
Vice-chairman
Ducroire | Delcredere
Member of the Board of Directors
Gewestelijke Investeringsmaatschappij Brussel (GIMB)
Member of the Board of Directors
EHSAL
Member of the Board of Directors
Europa Ziekenhuizen
Member of the Board of Directors
GasthuisZusters Antwerpen
Member of the Board of Directors
Associatie KU Leuven
Member of the Board of Directors
Tertio
Columnist
Brik vzw
Member of the Board of Directors
Familiehulp vzw
Member of the Board of Directors
Fairtrade Belgium vzw
Member of the Board of Directors
Isabel Vansteenkiste is Director General for International and European Relations at the European Central Bank (ECB). Isabel has worked at the ECB since 2002. Previously she held the position of Deputy Director General in the Directorate Monetary Policy and in the Directorate General Economics. In the latter Directorate General she was also senior advisor for the preparation of Governing Council meetings and Head of the Country Surveillance Division, which assesses euro area countries’ economic policies. As Deputy Director General Economics, she participated in European meetings (of the Eurogroup Working Group, the Economic and Finance Committee and the Eurogroup), and as Head of the International Policy Analysis Division, she participated in international meetings (of the BIS, G7 and G20). She was also the ECB’s mission chief to Portugal from 2014 to 2017. Isabel’s main fields of research interests are international macroeconomics, applied macroeconomics and monetary economics. Isabel holds a PhD degree in Economics from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
Dennis Essers is an Economist in the NBB’s Research Department, where one of his main responsibilities is to provide policy advice to the Belgian-Dutch Constituency at the International Monetary Fund in Washington and to prepare briefings for ECB, OECD and BIS meetings. Together with numerous ESCB colleagues, Dennis has contributed to the IRC report on the EU’s Open Strategic Autonomy. He has conducted research on various topics in the fields of international and development economics, including sovereign debt, aspects of financial globalisation and trade, and the Chinese economy. His work on these themes has appeared in academic journals and policy-oriented outlets, including the NBB’s own Economic Review. Dennis holds a PhD in Applied Economics from the University of Antwerp and a Master’s degree in International Development from the
