Mario Draghi is the speaker at this year's Karl Brunner Distinguished Lecture, which is being held for the tenth time by the Swiss National Bank. As President of the European Central Bank (ECB) from 2011 to 2019, Mario Draghi played a decisive role in shaping monetary policy in the euro area and is one of the most influential central bank governors of our time. His contribution to monetary policy during the euro crisis earned him high esteem around the world. After his term at the ECB, Draghi served as Prime Minister of Italy from 2021 to 2022. In 2024, he published the Draghi Report, a much-acclaimed assessment of the future of European competitiveness. Mario Draghi will be awarded the Charlemagne Prize this year for his service to Europe and European integration.

Previously, Mario Draghi was Governor of Banca d'Italia, Vice President and Managing Director of Goldman Sachs, Director General of the Italian Treasury and Executive Director of the World Bank. Prior to that, he was a Professor at the Universities of Trento, Padua, Venice and Florence. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977.

The tenth Karl Brunner Distinguished Lecture will be held at 5.30 pm on 1 October 2026, in the Audi Max room at the ETH Zurich. It will be conducted in English and be open to the general public. The event will also be broadcast live via the SNB website.

The Karl Brunner Distinguished Lecture Series was established by the SNB in 2016 to mark the centenary of the birth of the Swiss economist Karl Brunner (1916-1989). People whose work has had a significant impact on central bank monetary policy practice are invited as speakers.