Henry Paulson

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Henry M. Paulson
Henry Paulson
In office
July 3, 2006 – present
Under President George W. Bush
Preceded by John W. Snow
Born March 28, 1946 (age 61)
Palm Beach, Florida
Political party Republican

Henry Merritt "Hank" Paulson, Jr. (born March 28, 1946) is the United States Treasury Secretary and member of the International Monetary Fund Board of Governors. 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.[1] On June 28, 2006, he was confirmed by the United States Senate to serve in the position.[2] Secretary Paulson was officially sworn in at a ceremony held at the Treasury Department on the morning of July 10, 2006.

Contents

[edit] Early life and family

A devout Christian Scientist, Paulson was born in Palm Beach, Florida to Marianna Gallaeur and Henry Merritt Paulson, a wholesale jewelry business owner.[3] He was raised on a country estate in Barrington Hills, Illinois. Paulson attained the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.[4][5] Paulson received his Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Dartmouth College in 1968;[6] at Dartmouth he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was an All Ivy, an All East, and an honorable mention All American as a football offensive lineman.[7] He was also a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, played intramural sports and lacrosse, 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.[7] 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;[8] 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.[9] His net worth has been estimated at over $700 million.[9]

[edit] Civic activities

Paulson has been described as an avid nature lover.[10] 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.[7] 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.[11]

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. [12]

[edit] Treasury Secretary nomination

Paulson (right) with President George W. Bush as his nomination to become Treasury Secretary is announced.
Paulson (right) with President George W. Bush as his nomination to become Treasury Secretary is announced.

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.[13]

[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,[14] 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.

Paulson has conceded that chances were slim for agreeing on a way to reform Social Security financing but said he would keep trying to find bipartisan support for it. [15]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ White House (2006). President Bush Nominates Henry Paulson as Treasury Secretary. Retrieved June 29, 2006.
  2. ^ Associated Press (2006). Senate Approves Paulson as Treasury Secretary.
  3. ^ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~battle/celeb/paulson.htm
  4. ^ Townley, Alvin [2006-12-26]. Legacy of Honor: The Values and Influence of America's Eagle Scouts. New York: St. Martin's Press, pp. 178-188, 196. ISBN 0-312-36653-1. Retrieved on December 29, 2006. 
  5. ^ Ray, Mark (2007). What It Means to Be an Eagle Scout. Scouting Magazine. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved on January 5, 2007.
  6. ^ Belser, Alex. "Paulson '68 to lead Treasury", The Dartmouth, 31 May 2006.
  7. ^ a b c The Nature Conservancy (2006). Henry M. Paulson, Jr..
  8. ^ Goldman Sachs (2006). Goldman Sachs Group, Inc - Management.
  9. ^ a b Forbes (2006). Henry M. Paulson, Jr..
  10. ^ Somerville, Glenn. "Paulson brings Wall Street luster to Treasury", Yahoo! News, 30 May 2006.
  11. ^ Rutenberg and Andrews, Jim and Edmund L.. "Bush Selects Goldman Chief to Take Over Treasury Dept.", New York Times, 30 May 2006.
  12. ^ Heilprin, John. "A global warming believer in Bush Cabinet", Associated Press, 02 Jun 2006.
  13. ^ White House (2006). President Commends Senate for Confirming Henry Paulson as Treasury Secretary. Retrieved June 29, 2006.
  14. ^ The Christian Science Monitor August 3, 2006 New Treasury head eyes rising inequality. Retrieved August 3, 2006.
  15. ^ "Paulson: Social Security Reform Hopes Slim". Reuters, February 3, 2007.

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

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Jon Corzine		 Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs
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Persondata
NAME Paulson, Henry Merritt "Hank"
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION 74th United States Secretary of the Treasury
DATE OF BIRTH March 28, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Palm Beach, Florida, United States
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
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