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Paul A. Volcker

Paul A. Volcker was most notably the Chairman of the Federal Reserve under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan from August 1979 to August 1987. He is widely credited with ending the high levels of inflation seen in the United States in the 1970s and early 1980s. Additionally, he was the Chairman of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board under President Barack Obama from February 2009 until February 2011.

Mr. Volcker started out in 1952 by joining the staff of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a full-time economist. He left that position in 1957 to become a financial economist with the Chase Manhattan Bank. In 1962, Mr. Volcker moved to the Treasury Department as director of financial analysis. In 1963, he became deputy under-secretary for monetary affairs. In 1965 he re-joined Chase Manhattan Bank as its vice president and director of planning.

Then, in 1969, Mr. Volcker went back to government by serving as under-secretary of the Treasury for Monetary Affairs, until 1974, including both domestic and international financial policy. He played an important role in the decisions leading to the U.S. suspension of gold convertibility in 1971, which resulted in the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. In general he acted as a moderating influence on policy, advocating the pursuit of an international solution to monetary problems. After leaving the U.S. Treasury, he became president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1975 to 1979, and then Federal Reserve Board Chairman in 1979.

Mr. Volcker was appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve in August 1979 by President Jimmy Carter and reappointed in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan. Mr. Volcker's Fed is widely credited with ending the United States' stagflation crisis of the 1970s.

He recently headed the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. During the financial crisis, Mr. Volcker was critical of both financial regulation and financial institutions and supported far-ranging reform. Specifically Mr. Volcker called for a breakup of the nation's largest banks, prohibiting deposit-taking institutions from engaging in riskier activities such as proprietary trading, private equity, and hedge fund investments.

On January 21, 2010, President Barack Obama proposed bank regulations, including what was dubbed "The Volcker Rule,” in reference to Mr. Volcker's aggressive pursuit of these regulations.