Christine Lagarde's determination as a negotiator and experience working on the euro zone debt crisis are likely to ensure she settles smoothly into leadership of the International Monetary Fund, as the global lender faces some of the toughest economic challenges in its history
Her charisma and the expertise in international relations which she built up as French finance minister will carry weight with governments around the world as she replaces the disgraced Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Supporters say Lagarde, the first woman to head the IMF, will have the political muscle to press indebted euro zone states into delivering on promised budget reforms.
Yet her lack of the highbrow academic credentials as an economist that Strauss-Kahn brought to the Fund, and the likelihood that she will continue the same conservative policies which have so far failed to resolve the euro zone's crisis, are a concern to some.
She has a reputation for sealing deals under pressure -- during talks among the G20 nations in February she brought China into a compromise deal on ways to measure economic imbalances. She proved her negotiating stamina a decade ago as the first female chairman of U.S. law firm Baker & McKenzie.
Her easy charm and fluent English mean she is often rated in media polls as one of the world's most influential women, and is one of the most popular political figures in France.
Among her key challenges will be pushing world leaders to do more to reduce trade deficits and other imbalances in the global economy. She has said that as IMF chief, she will enhance the Fund's responsiveness to the needs of poor countries and step up its surveillance of economies to try and ward off future crises.
While she has vowed to give China and other emerging powers a larger role at the IMF, Lagarde may find herself caught between emerging nations demanding greater voting rights and European governments reluctant to give them more weight.
Her chief rival for the job, Mexican Central Bank Governor Agustin Carstens, could not only boast more economic expertise and experience of working at the IMF, but he answered the concern of emerging nations over Europe's refusal to relinquish its dominance in voting rights and its grip on the top IMF job.