NEW: Interview with Gary Gensler (August 2018)

Gary Gensler

Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management
Senior Advisor to the Director of the MIT Media Lab
Former Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

BIOGRAPHY

Gary Gensler is a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and Senior Advisor to the Director of the MIT Media Lab where he is a senior advisor to both the Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative and the Ethics and Governance of AI project.

Gensler served as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (2009 – 2014), leading the Obama Administration’s post-crisis reform efforts of the $400 trillion over-the-counter derivatives, or swaps market. In recognition, he was a recipient of the 2014 Tamar Frankel Fiduciary Prize.

He currently is chairman of the Maryland Financial Consumer Protection Commission.

He previously had been senior advisor to US Senator Paul Sarbanes in writing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002); was Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance, (1999-2001), and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury (1997-1999). In recognition for his service, Mr. Gensler was awarded Treasury’s highest honor, the Alexander Hamilton Award. He was a United States Presidential Elector for Maryland in 2004.

Gensler has worked on various political campaigns, most recently as CFO for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. He was a senior advisor to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign, subsequently an economic advisor for the Obama 2008 campaign, and worked on several Maryland statewide races.

He coauthored a book presenting common sense investing advice for middle income Americans, The Great Mutual Fund Trap , (Broadway Books, 2002). Gensler has appeared regularly on national television commenting on the economy and politics. In 2016, Politico Magazine, included him in their list of the 50 ‘Thinkers, doers and visionaries transforming American politics.’

Prior to his public service, Gensler worked at Goldman Sachs (1979-1997), having become a partner in the Mergers & Acquisition department, headed the firm’s Media Group, led fixed income & currency trading in Asia and lastly was co-head of Finance, responsible for worldwide Controllers and Treasury efforts.

A runner, he has completed nine marathons and the JFK 50-mile race. A widower, he has 3 daughters, and is from Baltimore, Maryland.

Gensler earned his undergraduate degree in economics in 1978 and his MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in 1979.