Daniele Franco is an Italian economist and civil servant born in Trichiana, Belluno, on 7 June 1953. He graduated in Political Science from the University of Padua in 1977, obtained a Master’s in Business Organisation from CUOA in Padua in 1978, and a Master of Science in Economics from the University of York in 1979. He joined the Bank of Italy in 1979 and held various senior positions over four decades, becoming Director General of the Bank of Italy in January 2020. From February 2021 to October 2022, he served as Minister of Economy and Finance in the Draghi government, overseeing Italy’s fiscal response to the pandemic and the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. He chaired the G20 Finance Track during Italy’s G20 Presidency in 2021. In July 2024, he was appointed Scientific Director of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice. He is a member of the Italian Society of Public Economics, the International Institute of Public Finance, the Veneto Institute of Sciences, Letters and Arts, and the Vicenza Olympic Academy. He has published extensively on public finance, European economic policies, macroeconomics and social protection. Ca’ Foscari University of Venice awarded him an honorary Master’s degree in Economics and Finance in 2023.