Timothy Geithner Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Timothy Geithner
OCCUPATION: Civil Servant
BIRTH DATE: August 18, 1961 (Age: 51)
EDUCATION: Dartmouth College, Johns Hopkins University
PLACE OF BIRTH: Brooklyn, New York
ZODIAC SIGN: Leo

Best Known For

Timothy Geithner is best known as the 75th U.S. Sercretary of the Treasury, under President Barack Obama. As the CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank, he was responsible for several crucial decisions during the 2008 financial crisis.

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Timothy Franz Geithner

APA Style

Timothy Franz Geithner. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 02:19, May 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/timothy-geithner-391494.

Harvard Style

Timothy Franz Geithner. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/timothy-geithner-391494 [Accessed 19 May 2013].

MLA Style

"Timothy Franz Geithner." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 19 2013, 02:19 http://www.biography.com/people/timothy-geithner-391494.

MHRA Style

"Timothy Franz Geithner," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/timothy-geithner-391494 [accessed May 19, 2013].

Chicago Style

"Timothy Franz Geithner," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/timothy-geithner-391494 (accessed May 19, 2013).

CBE/CSE Style

Timothy Franz Geithner [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/timothy-geithner-391494.

Bluebook Style

Timothy Franz Geithner, http://www.biography.com/people/timothy-geithner-391494 (last visited May 19, 2013).

AMA Style

Timothy Franz Geithner. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/timothy-geithner-391494. Accessed May 19, 2013.

Synopsis

Timothy Geithner is the 75th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, serving under President Barack Obama. Born to a pianist and international development official for the U.S. government, he spent most of his childhood traveling to different foreign countries. He spent time in Zimbabwe, India and Thailand during his adolescence,

and soon became interested in international relationships. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1983 with a B.A. in government and Asian studies, he attained his master's degree in international economics and East Asian studies from John Hopkins University. After working for the International Monetary Fund and Federal Reserve Bank as CEO, he was accepted into Obama's cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury. He played a key role during the 2008 financial crisis.

Early Life

Politician, economist. Born Timothy Franz Geithner on August 18th, 1961, in New York City to Deborah and Peter Geithner. His mother was a pianist and piano teacher. His father's job as an international development official for the U.S. government had Geithner and his family traveling and living in foreign countries for most of his childhood.

His family moved from the United States to Zimbabwe, India and Thailand during his early adolescence. Fascinated by international relationships even as a youth, Geithner used his interests as an amateur photographer during high school at the International School of Bangkok to travel to Cambodia and take black-and-white photographs of refugees.

Geithner continued his pursuit of photography when he attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he worked as an event photographer. His professors felt he had a natural talent for language. During his studies there, he learned Japanese and worked as a drill instructor for the Chinese language to help students with their oral and aural language skills. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1983 with a B.A. in government and Asian studies.

Work in Washington

After graduation from Dartmouth, Geithner attended the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, where he earned a master's degree in International Economics and East Asian Studies in 1985. Geithner married his college girlfriend, Carole Marie Sonnenfeld, that same year at his parents' summer home in East Orleans, Massachusetts. She was working as a research associate for Common Cause, a public-affairs lobbying group in Washington, D.C., at the time. Geithner began work as a consultant for Kissinger and Associates in Washington, D.C., soon after.

Geithner worked as a consultant until 1988, when he joined the International Affairs division of the Treasury Department as an assistant financial attache for the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. He held several jobs during his tenure at the Treasury, and was the first career civil servant to be appointed to the position of Under Secretary of International Affairs in 1998. In this post, he worked under Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers during President Clinton's administration.