Professor, writer and special advisor to the President of the Republic from 1981 to 1991, founder and first president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London from 1991 to 1993, Dr Attali created the NGO International Action against Hunger (Action Internationale Contre la Faim) in 1980 and the European Eureka Program for new technology in 1984. In 1989 he launched an international action campaign following the disastrous floods in Bangladesh. In 1998 he founded PlaNet Finance, an international nonprofit organization that aims at alleviating poverty through the development of microfinance worlwide.

Not only does he possess a doctorate in Economic Sciences, Dr Attali has also graduated from the École Polytechnique, the École des Mines, the Institut d'Études Politiques (Institute for Political Studies) and from the École Nationale de l'Administration. He taught economics at the École Polytechnique, the École des Ponts et Chaussées and at the University of Paris-Dauphine.

He is the author of 50 books, essays, novels and theatre productions, which sold 8 million copies and were translated into more than 20 languages.

In 2007-2008 he chaired a Commission that presented 316 recommendations to "liberate" French economic growth. He is currently President of Attali & Associés, a consultancy specialising in strategic consulting, financial engineering and merger-acquisitions, and President of PlaNet Finance, which he founded ten years ago and has now 15 million beneficiaries.