Expert resume of Rhoda Weeks-Brown

Founder/CEO, Cape Palmas Global Advisors LLC; Founder/Chair, Aurelia and Edith Breast Cancer Foundation; Former Special Advisor to the Managing Director, International Monetary Fund; former General Counsel (Chief Legal Officer) and Director, Legal Dept, International Monetary Fund; Member, Leadership Council, World Justice Project; Member, Monetary Law Committee of the International Law Association; Board Member, Results for America; Board Member, TalentNomics, Inc.; Member, U.S. Supreme Court Bar; Member, District of Columbia, Massachusetts and New York Bars.

Rhoda Weeks-Brown is Founder/CEO of Cape Palmas Global Advisors LLC and Founder/Chair of the Aurelia and Edith Breast Cancer Foundation. These roles follow a multi-decade career at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), during which she made significant contributions in myriad areas and served in several senior positions, including as General Counsel (Chief Legal Officer) and Director of the Legal Department, and Special Advisor to the IMF Managing Director. She was in private practice with a large U.S. law firm before joining the IMF.

Rhoda served as IMF General Counsel during a period of significant change in the global economy and IMF member countries. She provided advice to the IMF’s Governors, Executive Board, management and staff and led the legal department’s work on a range of pivotal policy, country and institutional matters, including policy reforms to help the IMF and its member countries respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath; the design of innovative new instruments and policies to address the evolving needs of member countries; and the design of country-level legal and institutional reforms critical for macroeconomic and financial stability, including in areas such as fiscal governance, anti-corruption and the rule of law. She also led the department’s work on a ground-breaking review of internal IMF safeguards and governance, and the design of wide-ranging reforms to strengthen those arrangements. She was an active member of key IMF management team committees (including on risk and investments) and mentor and coach to numerous staff, and has lectured and published book chapters, articles and blogs on the work of the IMF. She was the first woman and first developing country national to serve as IMF General Counsel.

Rhoda was listed by the Financial Times as one of the Top 27 Global General Counsels and one of the Top 5 General Counsels in the area of Promoting Ethical Standards (2020). Under her tenure, the IMF Legal Department was also short-listed for two Financial Times Awards: Innovation in Strategic and Risk Advice and Most Innovative In-House Legal Team in North America (2021).

Rhoda has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in Economics (summa cum laude) from Howard University. She is a member of the Committee on International Monetary Law of the International Law Association (MOCOMILA) and the Leadership Council of the World Justice Project. She also serves on the Boards of Results for America and TalentNomics, Inc.