Zoellick, Robert Bruce
Robert Bruce Zoellick (zĕl´lĬk), 1953–, U.S. government official and finance executive, b. Evergreen Park, Ill., grad. Swarthmore College (B.A., 1975), Harvard (J.D., M.P.P. 1981). As an associate of James Baker, Zoellick held a series of posts in the Treasury and State departments and the White House from 1985 to 1993, and was subsequently (1993–97) an executive vice president at the Federal National Mortgage Association. After stints as a professor at the U.S. naval academy, as president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and in other posts, he returned to government under President George W. Bush as the U.S. trade representative (2001–5). A long-time advocate of free trade, he negotiated free trade agreements between the United States and a number of nations and represented the United States in World Trade Organization talks, but was unsuccessful in promoting a Free Trade Area of the Americas. In 2005–6 he was deputy secretary of state, then left government to serve (2006–7) as vice chairman, international, at the Goldman Sachs Group. Zoellick was president of the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) from 2007 to 2012; he succeeded Paul Wolfowitz, who stepped down after a troubled tenure. Zoellick returned to Goldman Sachs in 2013, chairing its international advisory board.