E. Gerald Corrigan

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E. Gerald Corrigan bigraphy, stories - Presidents

E. Gerald Corrigan : biography

June 13, 1941 –

Edward Gerald Corrigan (born in Waterbury, Connecticut, on June 13, 1941) is an American banker who was the 7th President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Vice-Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee. Corrigan is currently a partner and managing director in the Office of the Chairman at Goldman Sachs and was appointed chairman of GS Bank USA, the bank holding company of Goldman Sachs, in September 2008. He is also a member of the Group of Thirty, an influential international body of leading financiers and academics.

Education

Corrigan earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Fairfield University in 1963. He received a master’s degree in 1965 and a Ph.D. in 1971, both in economics, from Fordham University.

Career

Federal Reserve

Corrigan began his career at the New York Federal Reserve in 1968 where he remained for twenty-five years, becoming Vice President in 1976, and serving as a Special Assistant to Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Paul Volcker in Washington, D.C. He went on to serve as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis from 1980 to 1984 and President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1985 until 1993.

From 1991 to 1993 he was Chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. From 1993 to 1995 he was director of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Post-Federal Reserve; Goldman Sachs

Corrigan joined Goldman Sachs in 1994 and has been a partner and managing director in the Office of the Chairman since 1996. He serves as co-chair of both the Risk Committee and the Global Compliance and Controls Committee at Goldman Sachs. In 1994 Corrigan also joined the influential Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty.

Since 1999, Corrigan has served as Chairman of the Counterparty Risk Management Policy Group (CRMPG). The CRMPG is a financial industry policy group designed to promote enhanced strong practices in counterparty credit risk and market risk management. In this capacity Corrigan testified before the Committee on Financial Services of the U.S. House of Representatives concerning hedge funds and systematic risk in the financial markets on March 13, 2007. In concluding his testimony, Corrigan foreshadowed the pending financial crisis of 2007–2008 by stating "[o]ne of the most difficult challenges in human endeavor is how we manage low probability events – such as financial shocks – that can cause so much damage. In the financial arena I believe we are making progress in meeting that challenge and we must continue the effort for we know that the future will bring new tests of the stability and resiliency of the financial system."

In 2005, the Global Association of Risk Professionals awarded their "Risk Manager of the Year" designation to Corrigan.

In a major article in April, 2009 about Obama Administration Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and his role in the national and global financial crisis, The New York Times’ writers traced the evolution of the AIG part in the crisis in September, 2008. A.I.G.’s chief executive at the time, Robert B. Willumstad, was seeking help raising capital from JP MorganChase, not using Goldman Sachs because it was "one of A.I.G.’s biggest trading partners" and, Mr. Willumstad believed, "the potential conflicts of interest … were too great." However, on "Monday, Sept. 15, Mr. Geithner pushed A.I.G. to bring Goldman onto its team to raise capital," the article said, quoting Mr. Willumstad. "Mr. Geithner and Mr. Corrigan … were close, speaking frequently and sometimes lunching together at Goldman headquarters. On [Sep. 15th], the company’s chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein, was at the New York Fed. A Goldman spokesman [told the Times] ‘We don’t believe anyone at Goldman Sachs asked Mr. Geithner to include the firm in the assignment.’ Mr. Geithner said he had suggested Goldman get involved because the situation was chaotic and ‘time was running out,’" the article concluded relative to Mr. Corrigan’s and Goldman’s involvements with the then-NY Fed president Geithner.