Natalie Jaresko

Natalie Ann Jaresko (born April 24, 1965, also known as Natalia Ivanivna Yaresko) is an American-born former U.S. State Department official and Ukrainian investment banker who served as Ukraine's Minister of Finance from December 2014 until April 2016. On 20 March 2017, she was appointed as executive director of the Financial Oversight & Management Board for Puerto Rico. Jaresko announced her resignation from the PROMESA board effective April 1, 2022. Since April 2022, she has been working as chairman of the Aspen Institute Kyiv and advisor for the non-profit Stronger Than Ever.

Early life and education Jaresko was born on 24 April 1965 in Elmhurst, Illinois, Although the U.S. does not prohibit dual citizenship, Ukrainian law states that she would have to renounce her non-Ukrainian citizenship(s) within two years.

Career Starting in 1989, Jaresko held several economics-related positions at the US Department of State in Washington, D.C., and eventually coordinated activities of the State Department, the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, the United States Trade Representative, and Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) in their economic relations with the Soviet Union and its successors. As part of her work, she interacted with the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Later, from 1992 to 1995, she worked in the Economic Section of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, responsible for strengthening economic cooperation between the two countries. When Jaresko left Horizon Capital in December 2014, it had about $600 million of Ukrainian investments under management. She said that any company that continued to do business with Russia was "indirectly financing the war".

Early in Jaresko's term, she made an outline agreement for a $40 billion four-year loan from the International Monetary Fund and Western countries.

In August 2015, Jaresko was instrumental to restructuring Ukraine's debts, including a partial write-off with a 20% haircut on Ukraine's $18 billion privately held government debt.

On 24 March 2016, shortly before she left office, she argued that the economy had to be depoliticized, and Ukraine needed a technocratic government and that she was willing to lead such a technocratic government.

Ukraine Today and the Financial Times reported speculation that Jaresko could become Ukraine's new prime minister, which was also suggested by former United States Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer and President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. The Ukrainian Weekly reported that Jaresko had started forming a provisional technocratic Cabinet of Ministers the previous month.

Jaresko was rejected as a prime ministerial candidate by the governing coalition.

After she left office, Jaresko said she believed the Ukraine macroeconomic situation had stabilized, and that Ukraine needed a further $25 billion of investment beyond the agreed IMF loans to "win over the hearts and minds of Ukrainian society" as the "immediate effects [of reform] on the population have been painful."

Later career In May 2016, Jaresko became chair of the board of trustees of the Aspen Institute unit in Kyiv, a U.S. headquartered educational and policy studies NGO.

On 20 March 2017, Jaresko became the executive director of the Financial Oversight Board of Puerto Rico, as part of the PROMESA bill. Her chairmanship was accompanied by multiple protests against the FOMBPR in Puerto Rico, the largest being a protest of 100,000 people in San Juan in the summer of 2019, before announcing her resignation in February 2022 effective on 1 April 2022.

Other activities Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity (TCEI), member (since 2018) Aspen Institute Kyiv, chair of the board of trustees (since 2016) Aspen Institute, member of the board of trustees