Lawyer and economist, he developed a finely-tuned skill for navigating the financial world early on in his career, first in Australia and London, and later in Wall Street. He served as president of the World Bank between 1995 and 2005. During his tenure his priorities were reducing poverty and global development, and he travelled to more than 120 countries to meet with not only governments, but also with unions, business associations, non-governmental organisations, educators and other representatives of civil society. In his autobiography, A Global Life, Wolfensohn talks openly about his successes and failures while reflecting on the underlying causes of the world’s ongoing poverty.