Henry Paulson

Henry Paulson served as CEO of Goldman Sachs from 1999 to 2006 before becoming US Treasury Secretary under President George W. Bush. He managed the early phases of the 2008 financial crisis, including placing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into government conservatorship. His decision — along with the NY Fed's Geithner and Ben Bernanke — to allow Lehman Brothers to fail in September 2008 remains one of the most debated policy choices in modern financial history. He subsequently wrote "On the Brink" documenting his crisis experience and has been active on environmental finance. At Goldman, he rose through the investment banking division, advising on major corporate mergers and acquisitions before becoming CEO. He served as a director of the Nature Conservancy and has combined his post-government career with significant work on conservation and US-China economic relations through the Paulson Institute, a non-partisan policy research organization he founded in 2011. He has also been an outspoken advocate for environmental protection, notable for a conservative Republican political background, helping establish his credibility as a bipartisan voice on climate policy.