Profile: Incoming U.S. Treasury Secretary Geithner to connect Washington, Wall Street

Source: Xinhua | 11-25-2008 08:42

CHICAGO, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Young, smart and experienced, the incoming U.S. Treasury Secretary is seen as the man who can effectively connect the dots between Washington and the Wall Street at the critical moment.

New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner testifies at the U.S. House Financial Services  Committee in this July 24, 2008 file photo. (Xinhua/Reuters, File Photo)

Timothy Geithner, the 47-year-old head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, was formally named by U.S. President-elect Barack Obama as his Treasury Secretary Monday.

Most recently, he was instrumental in shaping the Bush administration's response to the crisis on the Wall Street.

A proponent of major reform in the financial system in order to avoid further turbulence, he also is no stranger to the Treasury Department, where he served as under-secretary for international affairs in the Clinton administration.

Before joining the Federal Reserve of New York in October 2003,he had once worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

When his name surfaced as a real contender for the Treasury job last Friday, the Dow Jones index rose by more than 6 percent.

In his current post, he also serves as a permanent voting member, of the Federal Reserve's policy-setting committee.

While impressing both Washington and the Wall Street, Geithner boosted his standing further this year as the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department fought to stave off a full financial meltdown brought on by subprime mortgage-lending.

Geithner has argued that the weaknesses exposed in America's financial system must be addressed swiftly, with the Federal Reserve taking the lead in supervising US financial institutions.

"You will not have good judgments made by this central bank, this Federal Reserve, in the future unless we have the direct knowledge that comes with supervision," he said in testimony to Congress in July.

Aside from negotiating skills, he has a reputation for relishing tough challenges.

Geithner is at the same age of Obama and like Obama, he also has a diverse growing-up background.

He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and completed high school at International School Bangkok, Thailand.

Geithner has an undergraduate degree in government and Asian studies from Dartmouth, and a graduate degree in international economics from Johns Hopkins University.

He studied Japanese and Chinese and has lived in Zimbabwe, India, Thailand, Japan and China.

After completing his studies, Geithner worked for Kissinger and Associates in Washington and then joined the U.S. Treasury Department in 1988.

He was undersecretary of the treasury for international affairs between 1998 and 2001.

In 2002, he left the treasury department to join the Council on Foreign Relations as a Senior Fellow in the International Economics department.

Meanwhile, he also worked at the IMF as director of the Policy Development and Review Department.

In October 2003, he was named president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

He is married and has two children.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei