Jerome Powell

Jerome Powell
16th Chairman of the Federal Reserve
Incumbent
Assumed office February 5, 2018
President	Donald Trump
Deputy	Richard Clarida
Preceded by	Janet Yellen
Member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
Incumbent
Assumed office May 25, 2012
President	Barack Obama Donald Trump
Preceded by	Frederic Mishkin
Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance
In office 1992–1993
President	George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	Robert R. Glauber
Succeeded by	Frank N. Newman
Personal details
Born	Jerome Hayden Powell (1953-02-04) February 4, 1953 Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Republican[1]
Spouse(s)	Elissa Leonard (m. 1985)
Children	3
Residence	Chevy Chase, Maryland, U.S.
Education	Princeton University (AB) Georgetown University (JD)
Net worth	$112 million[2][3]

Jerome Hayden "Jay" Powell (born February 4, 1953) is the 16th and current Chairman of the Federal Reserve, serving in that office since February 2018. He was nominated to the Fed Chair position by President Donald Trump, and confirmed by the United States Senate.^[4][5]

Powell earned a degree in politics from Princeton University in 1975 and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in 1979. He moved to investment banking in 1984, and has since worked for several financial institutions. He briefly served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance under President George H. W. Bush in 1992. More recently, he was a visiting scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center from 2010 to 2012. He has served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors since 2012.

Early life and education

Powell was born on February 4, 1953 in Washington, D.C., as one of six children to Patricia (née Hayden; 1926–2010)^[6] and Jerome Powell (1921–2007),^[7] a lawyer in private practice and a World War II veteran.^[8][9] His maternal grandfather, James J. Hayden, was Dean of the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America and later a lecturer at Georgetown Law School.^[10] He had five siblings, Susan, Matthew, Tia, Libby and Monica.^[8]

In 1972, Powell graduated from Georgetown Preparatory School, a Jesuit university-preparatory school. He received a Bachelor of Arts in politics from Princeton University in 1975, where his senior thesis was titled "South Africa: Forces for Change."^[11] In 1975–76, he spent a year as a legislative assistant to Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schweiker (R),^[12][13] who had been named by Ronald Reagan as his probable vice presidential running mate on the 1976 ticket, had Reagan succeeded in securing the GOP nomination.

Powell earned a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1979, where he was editor-in-chief of the Georgetown Law Journal.^[14]

Career

In 1979, Powell moved to New York City and became a clerk to Judge Ellsworth Van Graafeiland of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. From 1981 to 1983, Powell was a lawyer with Davis Polk & Wardwell, and from 1983 to 1984, he worked at the firm of Werbel & McMillen.^[13]

From 1984 to 1990, Powell worked at Dillon, Read & Co., an investment bank, where he concentrated on financing, merchant banking, and mergers and acquisitions, rising to the position of vice president.^[13][15]

Between 1990 and 1993, Powell worked in the United States Department of the Treasury, at which time Nicholas F. Brady, the former chairman of Dillon, Read & Co., was the United States Secretary of the Treasury. In 1992, Powell became the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance after being nominated by George H. W. Bush.^[13][15][12] During his stint at the Treasury, Powell oversaw the investigation and sanctioning of Salomon Brothers after one of its traders submitted false bids for a United States Treasury security.^[16] Powell was also involved in the negotiations that made Warren Buffett the chairman of Salomon.^[17]

In 1993, Powell began working as a managing director for Bankers Trust, but he quit in 1995 after the bank got into trouble when several customers suffered large losses due to derivatives. He then went back to work for Dillon, Read & Co.^[15]

From 1997 to 2005, Powell was a partner at The Carlyle Group, where he founded and led the Industrial Group within the Carlyle U.S. Buyout Fund.^[14][18]

After leaving Carlyle, Powell founded Severn Capital Partners, a private investment firm focused on specialty finance and opportunistic investments in the industrial sector.^[19]

In 2008, Powell became a managing partner of the Global Environment Fund, a private equity and venture capital firm that invests in sustainable energy.^[19]

Between 2010 and 2012, Powell was a visiting scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank in Washington, D.C., where he worked on getting Congress to raise the United States debt ceiling during the United States debt-ceiling crisis of 2011. Powell presented the implications to the economy and interest rates of a default or a delay in raising the debt ceiling.^[18] He worked for a salary of $1 per year.^[2]

Federal Reserve Board of Governors

Powell speaks in 2015

In December 2011, along with Jeremy C. Stein, Powell was nominated to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors by President Barack Obama. The nomination included two people to help garner bipartisan support for both nominees since Stein's nomination had previously been filibustered. Powell's nomination was the first time that a president nominated a member of the opposition party for such a position since 1988.^[1] He took office on May 25, 2012, to fill the unexpired term of Frederic Mishkin, who resigned. In January 2014, he was nominated for another term, and, in June 2014, he was confirmed by the United States Senate in a 67-24 vote for a 14-year term ending January 31, 2028.^[20]

In 2013, Powell made a speech regarding financial regulation and ending "too big to fail".^[21] In April 2017, he took over oversight of the "too big to fail" banks.^[22]

Chair of the Federal Reserve

Powell sworn in as chair in 2018

On November 2, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Powell to serve as the Chair of the Federal Reserve.^[23]

On December 5, 2017, the Senate Banking Committee approved Powell's nomination to be Chair in a 22–1 vote, with Senator Elizabeth Warren casting the lone dissenting vote.^[24] His nomination was confirmed by the Senate on January 23, 2018 by a 84–13 vote.^[25] Powell assumed office as Chair on February 5, 2018.

Economic philosophy

Financial regulation

Powell testifies before the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs in 2018

Powell "appears to largely support" the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, although he has stated that "we can do it more efficiently".^[26] In an October 2017 speech, Powell stated that higher capital and liquidity requirements and stress tests have made the financial system safer and must be preserved. However, he also stated that the Volcker Rule should be re-written to exclude smaller banks.^[26]

Personal life

In 1985, Powell married Elissa Leonard.^[9] They have three children^[14] and live in Chevy Chase Village, Maryland, where Elissa is vice chair of the board of managers of the village.^[28] In 2010, Powell was on the board of governors of Chevy Chase Club, a country club.^[29]

Based on public filings, Powell's net worth is estimated to be as much as $112 million.^[2][3] He is the richest member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.^[30]

Powell has served on the boards of charitable and educational institutions including DC Prep, a public charter school, the Bendheim Center for Finance at Princeton University, and The Nature Conservancy. He was also a founder of the Center City Consortium, a group of 16 parochial schools in the poorest areas of Washington, D.C.^[18]

Powell is a registered Republican.^[1]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jerome Powell.

• Statements and Speeches of Jerome H. Powell
• Appearances on C-SPAN