2008 Honorary Degree Recepient

Robert E. Rubin
Doctor of Laws, honoris causa

Financier and public servant, economic strategist and advocate for the average American, Robert Edward Rubin has led a unique career in the worlds of finance and politics. He served with distinction as the 70th United States Secretary of the Treasury during both the first and second administrations of President Bill Clinton; upon his retirement from the position, President Clinton called him the “greatest secretary of the Treasury since Alexander Hamilton.” He is now director and chair of the Executive Committee of Citigroup. For his stellar record of public service and his innovative, influential leadership of efforts to make the American economy more responsive to the American people, he is today being awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.

Born in New York City, Rubin grew up in Miami Beach, where he graduated from Miami Beach High School, and still has close family ties in South Florida. He then attended Harvard College, where he graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in economics in 1960. He later attended the London School of Economics and received an LL.B. from Yale Law School in 1964.

Rubin began his career as an attorney at the firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York City. He joined Goldman Sachs in 1966 as an associate in the risk arbitrage department, rising through the ranks to become vice chair and co-chief operating officer in 1987, then co-chair and co-senior partner from 1990 to 1992.

From 1993 to early 1995, Rubin served in the White House as assistant to the president for economic policy. In that capacity, he was the first director of the National Economic Council (NEC), which coordinates economic policy-making and monitors implementation of the president’s economic policy agenda. The policy developed by Rubin and his team was based on vigorous deficit reduction, global open markets, and investments in education, training, and the environment. This approach helped to spark the longest economic expansion in the nation’s history.

During Rubin’s tenure as secretary of the U.S. Treasury from January 1995 to July 1999, he worked forcefully for fiscal discipline, guiding the economy toward a significant surplus. He led the introduction of inflation-indexed Treasury securities and advocated more effective training for workers and low-income Americans. As leader of the department’s law enforcement agencies, he also championed policies designed to better safeguard the nation’s currency against counterfeiting, decrease accessibility of guns to former felons and to minors, and combat money laundering. Rubin was also instrumental in leading multilateral efforts to contain and resolve financial crises in Latin America, Russia, and Asia.

After leaving the Clinton administration, Rubin became chair of the board of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), the nation’s leading community development support organization. In 1999 he joined Citigroup, where he became chair in 2007.

Rubin is a founder of The Hamilton Project, an economic policy think tank that produces research and proposals on how to create a growing economy that benefits more Americans. Based at the Brookings Institution, The Hamilton Project promotes free capital movements, fiscal balance, and social investment.

Co-chair of the Council on Foreign Relations, Rubin has served on the boards of directors of the New York Stock Exchange, the Ford Motor Company, the Harvard Corporation, the New York Futures Exchange, the New York City Partnership, and the Center for National Policy. He also has served as a trustee of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Mt. Sinai Hospital and Medical School, the President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Market Oversight and Financial Services Advisory Committee, the Mayor of New York’s Council of Economic Advisors, and the Governor’s Council on Fiscal and Economic Priorities for the State of New York.

Rubin has written a memoir, In an Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington, co-written by Jacob Weisberg. It was a New York Times bestseller as well as one of BusinessWeek’s ten best business books of 2003.

His extraordinary career has forged productive and innovative partnerships among the complex elements of our nation’s economy and helped to strengthen the financial well-being of our nation and its citizens. For his unique accomplishments and ongoing leadership, we honor Robert Rubin today.