Gary Gensler

Gary Gensler (born October 18, 1957) is an American government official and former Goldman Sachs investment banker serving as the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Gensler previously led the Biden–Harris transition's Federal Reserve, Banking, and Securities Regulators agency review team. Prior to his appointment, he was professor of Practice of Global Economics and Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Gensler served as the 11th chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, under President Barack Obama, from May 26, 2009, to January 3, 2014. He was the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance (1999–2001), and the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Markets (1997–1999). Prior to his career in the federal government, Gensler worked at Goldman Sachs, where he was a partner and co-head of finance. Gensler also served as the CFO for the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign. President Joe Biden nominated Gensler to serve as 33rd chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He succeeded SEC Acting Chair Allison Lee. Early life and education Gensler was born into a Jewish family in Baltimore, Maryland, one of five children of Jane (née Tilles) and Sam Gensler. Sam Gensler was a cigarette and pinball machine vendor to local bars, and he provided Gensler with his first exposure to the real-world side of finance when Sam would take Gensler to the bars of Baltimore to count nickels from the vending machines. Gensler graduated from Pikesville High School in 1975, where he was later given a Distinguished Alumnus award. Gensler graduated with a degree in economics, summa cum laude, after three years at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by a master's in business administration the following year. Gensler's identical twin brother also studied at the University of Pennsylvania. As an undergraduate, Gensler joined the University of Pennsylvania crew team as a coxswain, dropping his weight to 112 pounds to keep the boat at its proper weight.