GENSLER
Gary

• 1. Early life and education
• 2. Political involvement
• 3. Personal life

Gary Gensler is an American former investment banker, and former government official who is now the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Gensler previously led the Biden–Harris transition's Federal Reserve, Banking and Securities Regulators agency review team. He is also a professor in the practice 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 has nominated Gensler to serve as 33rd chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. On March 11, 2021, his nomination was reported out of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Development Committee by a vote of 14–10. On April 14, 2021, his nomination was confirmed in the Senate by a vote of 53–45 to fill former chair Jay Clayton's term expiring in June 2021. On April 19, 2021, the Senate confirmed Gensler to a 5-year term through 2026 by a vote of 54-45. 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.

Political involvement

Gensler served as treasurer of the Maryland Democratic Party for two years, and held several senior roles on the Maryland campaigns of U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski, former Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, and Governor Martin O'Malley. During the 2008 presidential campaign cycle, Gensler served as a senior advisor to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and later advised the Obama campaign. In May 2015, Gensler was named chief financial officer of Clinton's campaign for president.

Personal life

Gensler lives in Baltimore with his three daughters, Anna, Lee and Isabel. Gensler was married to filmmaker and photo collagist Francesca Danieli from 1986 until her death from breast cancer in 2006.

Gensler is a runner and has finished nine marathons and one 50-mile ultramarathon. He also is a mountain climber, having summited Mt. Rainier and Mt. Kilimanjaro.