Alan Greenspan

Dr. Greenspan knows a recession when he sees one. The cautious chief of the Federal Reserve Board ,was a child through the Depression, became President Gerald Ford's top economic adviser during the economic woes of the mid-'70s, and ascended to his current post mere months before the stock market crash of 1987. It stands to reason that Greenspan, often dubbed the second most powerful man in America, is obsessed with balancing the U.S. economy between boom and bust. (abcnews.go.com)

He took office June 20, 2000, as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for a fourth four-year term ending June 20, 2004. As Chairman of the Board, Greenspan receives $157,000. His opposite in England receives $345,000 while the head of the European Centeral Bank gets $340,000. (GetExuberant.com). He also serves as Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, the System's principal monetary policymaking body. He originally took office as Chairman and to fill an unexpired term as a member of the Board on August 11, 1987. Dr. Greenspan was reappointed to the Board to a full 14-year term which began February 1, 1992. He has been designated Chairman by Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton.

Dr. Greenspan was born on March 6, 1926, in New York City. He received a B.S. in economics (summa cum laude) in 1948, an M.A. in economics in 1950, and a Ph.D. in economics in 1977, all from New York University. Dr. Greenspan also has performed advanced graduate study at Columbia University.

From 1954 to 1974 and from 1977 to 1987 Greenspan was Chairman and President of Townsend-Greenspan & Co., Inc., an economic consulting firm in New York City. From 1974 to 1977 he served as Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers under President Ford and from 1981 to 1983 as Chairman of the National Commission on Social Security Reform.

He has also served as a member of President Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board, a member of Time magazine's Board of Economists, a senior adviser to the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity, and a consultant to the Congressional Budget Office.

His previous Presidential appointments include the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, the Commission on Financial Structure and Regulation, the Commission on an All-Volunteer Armed Force, and the Task Force on Economic Growth.

Dr. Greenspan in recent years served as a Corporate Director for Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa); Automatic Data Processing, Inc.; Capital Cities/ABC, Inc.; General Foods, Inc.; J.P. Morgan & Co., Inc.; Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York; Mobil Corporation; and The Pittston Company.

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