In 1978, Mr. Zedillo began a decade-long career at Mexico's Central Bank, where he served as economist, deputy manager of economic research, general director of a trust fund in charge of supporting the solution of the 1980's private sector external debt problem, and deputy director of the bank. During his stay at the Bank of Mexico, he published several articles in various books and journals. He also taught macroeconomics and international economics at master programs for Colegio de Mexico and the National Polytechnic Institute.

In late 1987, he was appointed undersecretary of the budget of the Mexican Federal Government. In this position, he participated in the design and execution of an economic adjustment program that eventually led, for the first time in many years, to the stabilization of the Mexican economy. A year later, he became head of the full secretariat. As secretary of economic programming and the budget, he contributed to the successful economic reforms undertaken by the Mexican Federal Government during the early 1990s. He was appointed secretary of education in early 1992, with a precise mandate to launch a sweeping reform of the national basic education system. This was achieved after nine months and comprised not only of the updating of the national curriculum and school materials, and the establishment of special compensatory programs for the education of the poorest students, but also the decentralization of the whole system to state governments.

Mr. Zedillo left the Federal Government in late 1993 to become head of the campaign of Mr. Luis Donaldo Colosio, the PRI Presidential candidate. He succeeded Mr. Colosio as the PRI candidate after his unfortunate assassination. He was elected to the Mexico Presidency in 1994. He received almost 50 percent of the total votes cast in the election. More than 78 percent of registered voters participated in the election, which was considered both by national and international observers as unprecedented in its legality and transparency.

Nevertheless, from his first day in office he called for further and definitive political reforms to achieve full democracy in Mexico. This became an undeniable reality during Mr. Zedillo's Presidency, thanks to the uniform participation of all political parties and many Mexican citizens. Also, from the beginning of his term, his government had to confront a major financial and economic crisis. Mr. Zedillo did not hesitate to take whatever harsh or extreme measures were deemed necessary to overcome the adverse situation. His boldness paid off, with Mexico recording the highest GDP growth in recent Mexican history. Economic discipline was not pursued at the expense of social justice during the Zedillo Presidency. Every year social programs were allocated an increasing proportion of the Federal budget until reaching its highest historical share in the year 2000.

Former President Zedillo has been married to Nilda Patricia Velasco since 1974. They have five children: Ernesto, Emiliano, Carlos, Nilda Patricia and Rodrigo.