Thomas J. Jordan was born in Bienne, Switzerland in 1963. He studied economics and business studies at the University of Berne, completing his degree in 1989 and his doctorate in 1993. He wrote his post-doctoral thesis (Habilitation) during a three-year post-doctoral research period at the Department of Economics at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. The University of Berne appointed him lecturer (Privatdozent) in 1998 and honorary professor in 2003. He lectures there in monetary theory and policy.

In 1997, Thomas J. Jordan joined the Swiss National Bank (SNB) in Zurich as an Economic Advisor in Department I. Two years later, he was appointed Assistant Director of the Economic Studies unit, and in 2002 he became Head of the Research unit. At the beginning of 2004, he was promoted to Director. With effect from mid-2004, the Swiss Federal Council appointed him an Alternate Member of the Governing Board. In this function, he headed the Financial Markets unit in Department III (Money Market and Foreign Exchange, Asset Management, Risk Management and Financial Market Analysis). Effective May 2007, he was appointed Member of the Governing Board by the Federal Council. At the same time, he became Head of Department III (Financial Markets, Banking Operations and Information Technology). With effect from the beginning of 2010, the Federal Council appointed him Vice-Chairman of the Governing Board and he took over management of Department II in Berne (Financial Stability, Cash, Finance and Risk). On 18 April 2012, Thomas J. Jordan was appointed Chairman of the Governing Board by the Federal Council and thereby also Head of Department I in Zurich (Economic Affairs, International Monetary Cooperation, Legal and Property Services, Secretariat General). He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the SNB’s ‘StabFund’, the stabilisation fund, from its foundation in 2008 until it was wound up in 2013.

Thomas J. Jordan is a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basle and the Steering Committee of the Financial Stability Board (FSB). He is the Governor of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Switzerland, and also Chairman of the G10 Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group (CBCDG). Thomas J. Jordan is a Board member of a foundation whose aim is to promote a master’s course in law and economics at the University of St Gallen, a member of the Board of Trustees of the ETH Zurich Foundation, as well as President of the foundation Board of the International Center for Monetary and Banking Studies (ICMB) in Geneva. He has published numerous articles on monetary theory and policy in leading international journals.