Carol S. Carson served as Director of the Statistics Department from December 1996 until August 2004.

Prior to joining the Fund in 1995, she was Director of the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce, where she had previously held various positions starting in 1972, including Deputy Director, Chief Economist, and Editor-in-Chief of the Survey of Current Business. She received the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive in 1994. Past experience also includes positions at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the National Planning Association. She has taught economic accounting, most recently at George Washington University.

Mrs. Carson's interests are in the development of internationally accepted methodologies for macroeconomic statistics, in training and technical assistance to promote these standards, and in the dissemination of statistics. Following up on the development of the IMF's Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS) and General Data Dissemination System (GDDS), she has pursued work on data quality.

Mrs. Carson served as expert for the revision of the United Nations System of National Accounts (1986-93). She is a fellow of the National Association of Business Economics and is currently a member of the Editorial Board of Business Economics. She is a member of the executive committee of the Conference on Research in Income and Wealth and is an elected member of the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth and of the International Statistical Institute.

Mrs. Carson holds a B.A. from the College of Wooster, an M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a Ph.D. from George Washington University.