COLM LINCOLN

Colm Lincoln
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The EBRD Alumni Newsetter just popped into my email inbox. I don't always check it out but today I did. And glad I did. What did I find but a tribute to Colm Lincoln, a former colleague, on his retirement from the Bank as Deputy Secretary General from, Enzo Quattrociocche, a former fellow Board member and current longstanding Secretary General of the Bank.

Colm joined the EBRD before it existed. He was helping Jacques Attali set up the shadow bank after its articles had been agreed in Paris in early 1990, and then the actual bank after its Articles had been ratified by the Member States, EIB and EU (then EC). And, as Enzo says, Colm continued his rise through eminence grise to penultimate eminence as Deputy Secretary General.

I was on the board of the Bank during its first year of existence and Colm was an invaluable contact and support at that time. In fact, Enzo will no doubt be thrilled to hear that Colm and I misspent our evenings on the eve of Board meetings enjoying a spaghetti/pizza and a few gargles of vino and solving not only the problems of the world but those of this new infant on the international development banking scene.

The Bank was cutting edge and Colm was at the edge cutting away.

When I left the Board I was still the EBRD desk officer in the Department of Finance for a further ten years. Colm and I stayed in touch professionaly and, while he helped me in understanding what was going on in the background, I was not always able to help him in his interactions with at least one of our Directors. Directors were nominated by the Minister and I was a mere civil servant.

I was thrilled to read Enzo's appreciation of Colm and can endorse every word of it. Colm was a dedicated, constructive, low key operator in his professional life and a friend outside of that.

Colm, enjoy your retirement; you richly deserve that. You look in fine fettle. I'm sure it's not just the photographer!

And Enzo, I remember one day at a Board meeting when you told me I was among the few people outside of Italy who pronounced your name correctly. And, by the way, do I see you infiltrating our Department of Finance or is Italy awash with Quattrociocches?

Enzo and Colm