William R. Rhodes

William R. "Bill" Rhodes (born August 15, 1935) is an American banker and philanthropist. Rhodes is President and CEO of William R. Rhodes Global Advisors, LLC which he founded in 2010. Having stepped back from full time responsibilities with Citi after more that 53 years with the institution. He most recently served as senior advisor, senior vice chairman and senior international officer of Citigroup and Chairman, President & CEO of Citibank, N.A. He held various senior executive positions at Citi from 1957 until his retirement from Citigroup on April 30, 2010. Subsequent to his retirement, he continued to serve as a senior advisor to Citi from 2010 through 2017.
Early life and education.
William Reginald Rhodes was born August 15, 1935 in New York City, New York to parents Edward R. Rhodes and Elsie Rhodes. He attended secondary school at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts. After graduating from high school in 1953, Rhodes enrolled at Brown University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, graduating with the class of 1957. 
Brown University presented Rhodes with an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) on May 29, 2005. In 1969 he earned the Executive Award from the Graduate School of Credit and Financial Management at the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration of Dartmouth College.
Career.
Citigroup.
Early years: 1957 to 1980.
Rhodes joined Citibank, N.A. in 1957 and was transferred in 1958 to the Maracaibo, Venezuela office as an Executive Trainee. In 1964, Rhodes was named Assistant Manager for Citibank in Caracas, Venezuela. In 1966 Rhodes became Assistant Manager in Jamaica and then Manager and Country Head for Citibank Jamaica in 1969. Throughout the 1970s, Rhodes continued to rise quickly within the Citi ranks being named Resident Vice President and Area Head for the Eastern Caribbean region in 1970, and then in 1971 he became Resident Vice President and subsequently Vice President for Venezuela and the Netherlands Antilles. In 1976 he was named Senior Vice President in charge of banking operations for Citi for the entire Caribbean and Northern South American regions. In 1977 Rhodes was named Senior Vice President of Latin America and the Caribbean based in the New York Office, and then became Senior Corporate Officer and a member of the banks policy committee for Latin America and Africa in 1980.
International debt crisis: 1984 to 2000.
In 1984 Rhodes was named Chairman of Citibank Restructuring Committee where he began to gain a reputation for international financial diplomacy as a result of his leadership in helping manage the external-debt crises that involved developing nations and their creditors worldwide. During that period he headed the advisory committees of international banks that negotiated debt-restructuring agreements for Argentina, Brazil, Iraq, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, and Uruguay.
In 1991 Rhodes was appointed Vice Chairman and Senior Risk Officer for Citicorp and Citibank, and held that position until the end of 2000.
In 1998, when the Republic of Korea experienced liquidity problems, he chaired the international bank group that negotiated the extension of short-term debt of the Korean banking system. In early 1999, at the request of the government of Brazil, he acted as worldwide coordinator to help implement the maintenance of trade and interbank lines by foreign commercial banks to Brazil. He has since served as a trusted advisor to governments, financial officials and corporations worldwide.
Later years: 2000 to 2017.
In May 1999, Rhodes was appointed as Senior Vice Chairman of Citigroup, Inc., a position that he held until his retirement in 2010. In March 2003, he became Chairman and later added responsibility and title of President of Citicorp, and Citibank, N.A., positions that he held until 2009. Mr. Rhodes announced his formal retirement from Citigroup on April 30, 2010 after more than 53 years.
Post his retirement in 2010, Rhodes continued to serve as senior advisor to Citi from 2010 through 2017.
Other positions.
Rhodes served as the President of Chipco Inc. (part of the New York Clearing House), President of the Venezuela-American Chamber of Commerce, and President of the Bankers Association for Foreign Trade. He also served as the Chairman of the U.S. Advisory Committee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and of the U.S. Section of the Venezuela-U.S. Business Council. He served as a Director of Conoco Inc. from October 1998 to 2002, and then served as a Director of ConocoPhillips from August 2002 to May 5, 2008.
Rhodes served on the board of the Institute of International Finance Inc. (IIF) from 1989 until 2010. In 1993 Rhodes was elected Vice Chairman of the IIF and served in that position until being named First Vice Chairman, a position held from 2003 until 2010. He also served as Acting Chairman of the IIF on various occasions. In October 2010, he announced his retirement from the IIF board and was elected as its First Vice Chairman Emeritus, a position that he currently holds.
Rhodes served as the Chairman of the U.S.-Korea Business Council, and still serves as the Chairman Emeritus. He served as Chairman of Americas Society and Council of the Americas, and still serves as a director and Chairman Emeritus.
Rhodes served as Chairman of the New York Blood Center during 1998 and 1999.
Rhodes was appointed Professor at Large for Brown University from 2010 through 2015.
Post-Citigroup.
Rhodes established and is currently president and CEO of William R. Rhodes Global Advisors, LLC.
Philanthropy.
The William R. Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance at Brown University was established in 2007 with the generous support of William R. Rhodes.
Rhodes also made a generous lead gift in 2008 to the Northfield Mount Hermon School for the Rhodes Arts Center, a 63,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility that opened in September 2008.
In 2014, Rhodes made the lead gift to establish The Rhodes Fellowship Course in Social Entrepreneurship at Northfield Mount Hermon School.
Rhodes is a major donor to the New York Presbyterian Hospital where he serves as a Life Trustee.
In 2017, Rhodes established the William Rhodes and Louise Tilzer-Rhodes Center for Glioblastoma at New York-Presbyterian. The center will conduct research and provide treatment and therapies to patients with glioblastoma.
Bionic Site 
Awards and honors.
Rhodes is an Officer and Chevalier of France's Legion of Honor; and has received decorations from Poland, Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Jamaica; and multiple awards from not-for-profit organizations such as the Africa-America Institute, the Arab Bankers Association of North America and the America-Israel Friendship League in recognition of his contributions to international banking and finance.
Published work.
In 2011, McGraw-Hill published his book "Banker to the World: Leadership Lessons From the Front Lines of Global Finance". The book is currently in its 2nd edition in English. A separate English edition was published in India and Sub Continent. The book has been translated and published in a number of languages including Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, and most recently two additions in Spanish.
Other published work.
In addition, Rhodes has written numerous op-ed articles for many of the top-tier financial publications, including Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg and New York Times, and often appears on business television programs, including CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN, Fox, Sky, BBC and CCTV (China).