Henry Paulson
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Henry Merritt "Hank" Paulson, Jr. (born March 28 1946) is the United States Treasury Secretary. He previously served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs, one of the world's largest and most successful investment banks.
He was nominated by U.S. President George W. Bush to succeed John Snow as the Treasury Secretary on May 30, 2006.<ref>White House (2006). President Bush Nominates Henry Paulson as Treasury Secretary. Retrieved June 29, 2006.</ref> On June 28, 2006, he was confirmed by the United States Senate to serve in the position.<ref name="NYTAP/">Associated Press (2006). Senate Approves Paulson as Treasury Secretary.</ref> Secretary Paulson was officially sworn in at a ceremony held at the Treasury Department on the morning of July 10, 2006.
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[edit] Early life and family
A devout Christian Scientist, Paulson was born in Palm Beach, Florida and was raised on a country estate in Barrington Hills, Illinois. Paulson received his Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Dartmouth College in 1968;<ref>Belser, Alex. "Paulson '68 to lead Treasury", The Dartmouth, 31 May 2006.</ref> at Dartmouth he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was an All Ivy, an All East, and an honorable mention All American for football.<ref name="nature">The Nature Conservancy (2006). Henry M. Paulson, Jr..</ref> He was also a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, played intramural sports and lacrosse, was a member of the Green Key Society and president of the Christian Science Organization. He met his wife Wendy during his senior year.
In 1970 Paulson received a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School. The couple have two adult children, Henry Merritt III and Amanda Clark. They maintain homes in Washington, DC and Barrington, Illinois.
[edit] Career highlights
Paulson was Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense at The Pentagon from 1970 to 1972.<ref name="nature"/> He then worked for the administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon, serving as assistant to John Ehrlichman from 1972 to 1973.
He joined Goldman Sachs in 1974, working in the firm's Chicago office. He became a partner in 1982. From 1983 until 1988, Paulson led the Investment Banking group for the Midwest Region, and became Managing partner of the Chicago Office in 1988. From 1990 to November 1994, he was co-head of Investment Banking, then, Chief Operating Officer from December 1994 to June 1998;<ref>Goldman Sachs (2006). Goldman Sachs Group, Inc - Management.</ref> eventually succeeding Jon Corzine (now Governor of New Jersey) as its chief executive. His compensation package, according to reports, was US$37 million in 2005, and US$16.4 million projected for 2006.<ref name="Forbes">Forbes (2006). Henry M. Paulson, Jr..</ref> His net worth has been estimated at over $700 million.<ref name="Forbes"/>
[edit] Civic activities
Paulson has been described as an avid nature lover.<ref>Somerville, Glenn. "Paulson brings Wall Street luster to Treasury", Yahoo! News, 30 May 2006.</ref> He has been a member of the Nature Conservancy for decades and is the organization's Board chairman and co-chair of its Asia-Pacific Council.<ref name="nature"/> In that capacity, Paulson worked with former President of the People's Republic of China Jiang Zemin to preserve the Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan province. He donated US$100 million worth of his Goldman Sachs stock to a family foundation dedicated to conservation and environmental education.<ref>Rutenberg and Andrews, Jim and Edmund L.. "Bush Selects Goldman Chief to Take Over Treasury Dept.", New York Times, 30 May 2006.</ref>
Paulson is also on the Board of Directors of the Peregrine Fund; was the founding Chairman of the Advisory Board of the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University in Beijing; and, previously served as chairman of the influential trade group, the Financial Services Forum.
Notable among the members of President Bush's cabinet, Paulson is a strong believer in the effect of human activity on global warming and advocates immediate action to decrease this effect. <ref>Heilprin, John. "A global warming believer in Bush Cabinet", Associated Press, 02 Jun 2006.</ref>
[edit] Treasury Secretary nomination
Image:President Bush Nominates Henry Paulson as Treasury Secretary 2.jpg
On May 30, 2006, Treasury Secretary John W. Snow resigned. President Bush immediately nominated Paulson to head the Treasury department. On June 28, 2006, the United States Senate confirmed Paulson to serve in this position.
Paulson's three immediate predecessors as CEO of Goldman Sachs — Jon Corzine, Stephen Friedman, and Robert Rubin — each left the company to serve in government: Corzine as a U.S. Senator (later Governor of New Jersey), Friedman as chairman of the National Economic Council (later chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board), and Rubin as both chairman of the NEC and later Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton.<ref>White House (2006). President Commends Senate for Confirming Henry Paulson as Treasury Secretary. Retrieved June 29 2006.</ref>
[edit] Acts as Treasury Secretary
Paulson has quickly distinguished himself from his two Bush administration predecessors by listing the wide gap between the richest and poorest Americans as an issue on his list of the country's four major long-term economic issues to be addressed. Notably, he highlighted this issue in one of his first public appearances as Secretary of Treasury,<ref>The Christian Science Monitor August 3 2006 New Treasury head eyes rising inequality. Retrieved August 3 2006.</ref> helping to trigger the Inequality Debate of 2006.
Paulson's former Goldman Sachs co-worker, Bob Steel, has been nominated as Undersecretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance.
[edit] References
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[edit] Further reading
- Fortune Magazine: Hank Paulson's secret life
- AP story: Paulson picks bird watching over golf
- Derivatives Financier Henry Paulson Nominated To Head U.S. Treasury: Will His Derivatives Bubble Be An Economic Tsunami?
[edit] External links
- Paulson's biography from the Treasury Department
- Paulson's biography at referenceforbusiness.com
- Henry Paulson's federal campaign contributions
| Preceded by: Jon Corzine | Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs June, 1998 – July 3, 2006 | Succeeded by: Lloyd Blankfein |
| Preceded by: John W. Snow | United States Secretary of the Treasury Under President George W. Bush July 31, 2006 – present | Succeeded by: Incumbent |
| Preceded by: Condoleezza Rice | United States Presidential Line of Succession 5th in line | Succeeded by: Donald Rumsfeld |
| Preceded by: Sandra Day O'Connor | United States order of precedence as of 2006 | Succeeded by: Donald Rumsfeld |
| United States Secretaries of the Treasury
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| Hamilton • Wolcott • Dexter • Gallatin • Campbell • Dallas • Crawford • Rush • Ingham • McLane • Duane • Taney • Woodbury • Ewing • Forward • Spencer • Bibb • Walker • Meredith • Corwin • Guthrie • Cobb • Thomas • Dix • Chase • Fessenden • McCulloch • Boutwell • Richardson • Bristow • Morrill • Sherman • Windom • Folger • Gresham • McCulloch • Manning • Fairchild • Windom • Foster • Carlisle • Gage • Shaw • Cortelyou • MacVeagh • McAdoo • Glass • Houston • Mellon • Mills • Woodin • Morgenthau • Vinson • Snyder • Humphrey • Anderson • Dillon • Fowler • Barr • Kennedy • Connally • Shultz • Simon • Blumenthal • Miller • Regan • Baker • Brady • Bentsen • Rubin • Summers • O'Neill • Snow • Paulson |
| Current members of the Cabinet of President George W. Bush
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| Bodman • Bolten • Chao • Cheney • Chertoff • Gonzales • Gutierrez • Jackson • Johanns • Johnson • Kempthorne • Leavitt • Nicholson • Paulson • Peters • Portman • Rice • Rumsfeld • Schwab • Spellings • Walters |
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