Bernard A.

Lietaer
66A, Avenue de Tervuren, boite 8
1040 Brussels, Belgium
blietaer@earthlink.net
www.lietaer.com

Currency Architect – Author – Speaker

 International expert in the design and implementation of currency systems.

Primary activities include consulting to a wide range of governements, businesses and
community organizations; and speaking worldwide on the merits and limitations of
complementary currencies (including business-to-business, mutual credit and community
systems, and a global Trade Reference Currency), for solving the great challenges of our times
and creating a wiser and more sustainable world.

 Fellowships and Memberships: Research Fellow at the Center for Sustainable Resources of the
University of California at Berkeley; Member of the Club of Rome; Fellow at the World
Academy of Arts and Sciences; Fellow of the World Business Academy; Fellow of the
European Academy of Sciences and Arts; Founding Member of the Global Futures Forum.

Professional background

 1987 – 1991: General Manager and Head Trader for GaiaCorp, firm that was then the
world’s top performing managed currency fund, and whose profits went entirely to Gaia Trust
grants and environmental projects.. Managed a line of four mutual funds, including Gaia
Hedge II, which was also the top performing off-shore fund (according to a Micropal survey of
1800 off-shore funds).

 1978 – 1983: Head of Organization and Electronic Data Processing of the National Bank of
Belgium (the Belgian Central Bank); President of the national Electronic Payment System, the
world’s most comprehensive and cost effective of such systems according to the Bank of
International Settlements (BIS). Co-designed and implemented the European Currency Unit
(ECU), the convergence mechanism that led from the multiple national currencies to the Euro.

 1969 – 1978, 1984-87, and 1992-today : Management Consultant and Monetary Advisor.
International management consultant and advisor to several Latin American governments and
European institutions, as well as major multinational corporations on four continents in oil,
chemicals, banking, mining, and manufacturing. This professional phase started with three
years as a Senior Consultant with Cresap, Mc Cormick and Paget Inc., one of the leading
consulting management firms in the United States at the time.
Academic Background and Studies

 2003-2006: Visiting Scholar at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. Designed Naropa

University’s Marpa Center for Business and Economics, and taught seminars on the concept of
money, how different money systems create different societies and change consciousness, and
how we can rethink and redesign our currencies to create a wiser and more sustainable world.

 1992-1998: Visiting Professor in Archetypal Psychology, Sonoma State University, California.

Wrote two books (The Mystery of Money, 2000 and The Future of Money, 2001), whose main
insights will be updated, integrated and synthesized in the forthcoming Of Human Wealth.

 1975-1978 and 1983-1986: Professor of International Finance and International Trade,

University of Louvain in Belgium, founded in 1425.

 1967-1969: M.S. in Business Administration from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,.

(MIT). Honored at the completion of his studies in 1969 by Time Magazine as one of the top
ten graduates of US business schools.

 1967–1969: Teaching Assistant in Industrial Structure of Europe, and Research Assistant in

Business Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 1962-1967: B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Louvain, Belgium

Languages

 Fluent in French, Spanish, English and Dutch

 Good working knowledge of German.

Books in english

Of Human Wealth: Beyond Greed and Scarcity (forthcoming). Co-authored with Stephen Belgin.

A Report to the Club of Rome: Money and Sustainability: the Missing Link (forthcoming). Co-
authored with Stefan Brunnhuber.

Future of Money: Creating New Wealth, Work and a Wiser World (London: Random House, January
2001). The book was translated in eighteen other languages.

Europe + Latin America + the Multinationals : A Positive Sum Game for the Exchange of Raw
Materials and Technology in the 1980s. London: Saxon House ; New York: Praeger, 1979.

Short-term Planning Models, published in Studies in Management Science and Systems Vol. 2.
Amsterdam, Oxford, New York: North Holland Publishing Co. , 1975.

Financial Management of Foreign Exchange. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1970.

(see the “Other Languages” section below for books published in French, German and Dutch)

Articles and White Papers

Most articles below can be read or downloaded from Bernard Lietaer’s website

“Is Our Monetary Structure a Systemic Cause for Financial Instability? Evidence and Remedies from
Nature,” by Bernard Lietaer, Sally J. Goerner and Robert E. Ulanowicz. Journal of Futures Studies,
Special Issue on the Financial Crisis, April 2010

“Quantifying Economic Sustainability: Implications for Free-Enterprise Theory, Policy, and Practice.”
Co-authored with Sally J. Goerner and Robert E. Ulanowicz, in Ecological Economics, Vol. 69, n. 1,
December 15, 2009.

“Quantifying Sustainability: Resilience, Efficiency and the Return of Information Theory.”

Co-authored with Robert E. Ulanowicz , Sally J. Goerner, Rocio Gomez, in Ecological Economics,
Vol. 6, Issue 1, March 2009.

“Options for Managing a Systemic Banking Crisis.” Co-authored with Robert Ulanowicz and Sally
Goerner. Sapiens-Revues, Volume 2, number 1, March 2009.

“A Revolutionary Idea” in Resurgence Magazine, March-April 2009, no 253.

“Commercial Credit Circuit (C3): A Financial Innovation to Structurally Address

Unemployment,” in collaboration with STRO, 2008.

“Natural Savings: A New Microsavings Product for Inflationary Environments. How to Save Forests
with Savings for and by the Poor?” Co-authored with Marek Hudon, Savings and Development, Fall
2006.

“A Proposal for a Brazilian Education Complementary Currency,” International Journal for

Complementary Currency Research, Vol. 10, 2006, p. 18-23.

“Complementary Currency Innovation: Self-guarantee in peer-to-peer currencies.” Bernard Lietaer

and Mitra Ardron, International Journal of Community Currency Research, Vol. 10, 2006, p. 1-7.

“An Integral View on Money and Financial Crashes.” White paper, October 2005.

“The Terra TRC,” White Paper, 2004

“Complementary Currencies in Japan: History, Originality and Relevance,” International Journal for
Community Currency Research, Vol 8, 2004

“Sustaining Cultural Vitality in a Globalizing World: the Balinese Example,” co-authored with
Stephen Demeulenaere in the International Journal for Social Economics, September 2003.

“A World in Balance.” Published in Reflections, the journal of the Society for Organizational Learning
(SOL) Summer 2003 - Special issue on “The feminine approach to leadership.”

“Money and Sustainability: the Missing Link,” Resurgence, May 2001.

“Prepare Your Company for Inflation,” Harvard Business Review, September-October, 1970.

“Managing Risks in Foreign Exchange,” Harvard Business Review, March-April. 1970.

Interviews and Talks

Tedx Talk in Berlin, November 20, 2009

Re-examining the Structure of Money

An interview by Tracy Fernandez Rysavy
In Green America, Spring 2009

Interview with Brazilian Newspaper Folha de S. Paula

in Community Currency Magazine, April 2009, Issue 25

New Money for a New World

An Interview by Shift in Action, February 2007

The Mystery and Magic of Money

An interview by Marilyn Mehlmann, March 2006

Money Should Work for Us, Not the Other Way Around
An Interview with Ode Magazine, September 2005

Creating a Giving Culture

An Interview by Pamela Gerloff in The Art of Giving,
More than Money Journal, Issue 34, Fall 2003

10 Questions About Money

Q & A with the Financial Planning Association, Denver 2003

Money, Community and Social Change

An interview by Ravi Dykema, July-August 2003

Re-Inventing Money Interview,

An interview with New Dimensions, February 1999

Beyond Greed and Scarcity

An Interview with Sarah Van Gelder from Yes Magazine, 1997
Other Languages (French, German, Spanish, Dutch)

Books

Monnaies Régionales: de nouvelles voies vers une prospérité durable (Paris : Editions Charles
Leopold Mayer, November 2008) co-authored with Margrit Kennedy.

Mutation Mondiale, Crise et Innovation Monétaire (Lille : Editions de l’Aube, 2008)

Mysterium Geld: Bedeutung und Wirkungsweise eines Tabus (Munich: Riemann Verlag, April 2000).
This book is also available in six other languages.

Regionalwahrungen: Neue Wege zu nachhaltigem Wohlstand (Munich: Riemann Verlag, March 2004).
Co-authored with Prof. Dr. Margrit Kennedy.

Die Welt des Geldes: Das Auflklärungsbuch (Würzburg: Arena Verlag, 2001) - a book on money for
13-17 year-olds

Das Geld der Zukunft (Munich: Riemann Verlag, October 1999)

Es una opportunidad la Deuda? (Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1987)

Le Grand Jeu Europe - Amérique Latine (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1981)

Internationaal Ondernemen: Een matematisch model voor Valutabeheer (Leiden: Uitgeverij Spruyt ;
Antwerpen: Noord Nederlands Boekbedrijf, 1980)

A Role for Europe in the North-South Conflict (Brussels: European Cooperation Fund, 1978)
published in English, French and Spanish.

Articles

“Proposition pour gérer une crise bancaire systémique,” Places to Be, 6 juin 2009.

“Une solution structurelle à la crise financière,” Diplomatie, avril-mai 2009.

“Créer des monnaies régionales pour traiter la crise globale.” Compte rendu de l’ intervention de
Bernard Lietaer (13 mai 2009), rédigé par Yves Dougin pour Les Amis de L’École de Paris du
Management.

“La monnaie à l’ image des écosystemes: plus de diversité S.V.P.!” FinanCité Magazine, 9 mars 2009.

“Toutes les options pour gérer une crise bancaire systémique,” Livre Blanc, 2008.

“Le C3 (Circuit de Crédit Commercial): Une innovation financière stimulant structurellement

l’emploi” en collaboration avec STRO.
“Opciones para gestionar la crisis sistémica de la Banca,“ Documento para la Academia mundial de
Artes y Ciencias (WAAS), Hyderabad, India - 19 Octubre 2008

“Wege zur Bewältigung systemischer Bankenkrisen,” Wissenschaftliche Arbeit für die World
Academy of Arts and Sciences (WAAS) Hyderabad, Indien – October 2008

“Réduire Les Effets de la Crise,” Trends-Tendances 16 octobre 2008

“Une Vue Intégrale sur la Monnaie et les Crashs Financiers,” October 2005

“Geld, das nachhaltiges Wirtschaften profitabel macht,“ Brandeins, August 2001.

Interviews

“Diversifier les monnaies pour éviter les crises” Interview avec l’ Écho, 27 Février 2010

“De sociaal-complementaire munten hebben als doeleinde coöperatie en hebben dat ook als resultaat,”
Anton Maertens in De Gids (ACW maandblad) November 2009