Dan Katz, chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, is set to leave the Trump administration to become the International Monetary Fund’s first deputy managing director, three people familiar with the matter told the New York Post.
If confirmed by the IMF, Katz — who joined the Treasury Department in January after serving as a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute — would be the most senior American at the fund and would work under Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, a Bulgarian economist and former European Union commissioner. A Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment on the reporting.
The New York Post report, citing three unnamed sources, said Katz is leaving the department to take the senior IMF post. One person described him as “one of the secretary’s closest confidantes” and called the move “a big win for President Trump’s America First economic agenda on the international stage,” according to the report.
Katz joined the Treasury in January and has served as chief of staff to Secretary Bessent, who has publicly criticized the IMF in recent weeks. Reuters reported that Bessent accused the fund of "mission creep" and of promoting what he characterized as "woke causes," comments that have underscored tensions between the Treasury and the multilateral lender.
The first deputy managing director position is traditionally the fund’s second-ranking office, responsible for assisting the managing director in overseeing IMF staff and policy work and often playing a central role in program design and crisis response. If Katz assumes the post, he would become a significant American presence in the IMF’s senior leadership.
Neither the IMF nor the Treasury has announced a formal nomination or confirmed a start date. IMF appointments to senior management are typically approved by the fund’s executive board, and the process can include internal deliberations and consultations with member countries.
Katz’s move comes as the IMF navigates global economic pressures including high debt levels in emerging markets, uneven post-pandemic recoveries and concerns about inflation and financial stability. The appointment of an American to a top IMF role would be closely watched in Washington, where Treasury officials play a key role in shaping U.S. policy toward multilateral institutions.
The New York Post first reported the planned transition. Reuters’ reporting on Bessent’s remarks provided contemporaneous context about recent frictions between the Treasury and the IMF. Further details about Katz’s tenure at the Treasury, the timeline for his departure and the formal IMF process were not disclosed in the reports.