Rodrigo Rato, who looks sure to become next International Monetary Fund chief, has earned his credentials abroad as a Latin American expert and at home by helping to make Spain one of Europe's most successful economies.
Sharp-tongued and serious, but known for a dry sense of humour, the former Spanish economy minister and deputy prime minister is likely to succeed Horst Koehler as IMF managing director after his domestic political ambitions collapsed.
Mr Rato was passed over to succeed former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as leader of the conservative Popular Party, and then in March the PP suffered a surprise election defeat.
This opened the way for 55-year-old Mr Rato, backed by the United States and Latin American countries, to seek the IMF job.
Mr Rato's rival, Jean Lemierre dropped out of the race for the job and the French Finance Ministry, which with Germany had backed the president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, said it had held talks with Mr Rato.
A lawyer by training, Mr Rato's credentials include a deep knowledge of Latin America, with which Spain has close business ties rooted in a common language and culture.
This will be useful. The IMF faces a huge challenge with bankrupt Argentina, which is in a standoff with creditors and some Fund members who have abstained in votes on funding packages for the country.
Mr Rato's Latin American expertise came to the fore during Argentina's economic meltdown in 2002, when Spanish companies were forced to write off billions of dollars from their businesses there. Argentina remains the IMF's third-largest debtor after Brazil and Turkey. Mr Rato stood by Argentina during the crisis, insisting Spain and its investors still believed in the country's economic potential, while pushing it to speed up reforms.
Spain offered a $1 billion credit line to the IMF programme for Argentina in 2001 as part of international efforts to help the country avoid default.
At home Mr Rato steered economic policy from 1996 until he left office last weekend. He prepared Spain as a founding member of the euro currency zone by restraining government spending while also cutting taxes.
Spain's record of 10 consecutive years of growth is the envy of many countries and the yawning budget deficit that the PP inherited has turned into a small surplus in the last two years. But the unemployment rate is the highest in the European Union.
Mr Rato twice cut income taxes across the board and went most of the way to liberalising Spain's telecoms and energy industries despite opposition from powerful companies.
Until his domestic setbacks, Mr Rato rarely disguised his ambition to become Spain's premier.
"I think anyone who is in politics has an idea of contributing to the common good... and also has a element of passion, leadership and ideology," he once said. "Of course I have those elements. I have had them during my whole public life..."
With a smoother image of late and a friendly, accessible face, thinning hair and a penchant for loud ties, Mr Rato was described by a PP colleague as prudent, pragmatic and with his feet firmly on the ground.
Mr Rato entered politics in the 1970s by joining the Popular Alliance (AP), the right-wing political movement which became the Popular Party in 1989.
In 1979, he joined the AP's national executive and was its spokesman on the economy from 1984 to 1986, later becoming the PP's assistant secretary-general and economic spokesman.