New Facts: Lagarde emerges as WEF contender

At a World Economic Forum board meeting near Geneva this week, Christine Lagarde was identified as a potential candidate to take over the Forum’s presidency as soon as 2027. She told members she is "ready to serve" and thanked the 28‑member board for their confidence. Singapore’s president Tharman Shanmugaratnam led the succession discussion and said it should be resolved internally.

No handover date was set. The board agreed that current co‑chairs Larry Fink and André Hoffmann will still chair the Davos annual meeting in January 2027. Lagarde, a long‑serving member of the Forum’s board, would step into a role reshaped since founder Klaus Schwab stepped down last year.

AI-synthesized from multiple reported sources