John Francis William Rogers[1] (born April 15, 1956) is an American businessman, serving as executive vice president, chief of staff, and secretary to the board of Goldman Sachs.[2]

John F. W. Rogers
Rogers in September 1983
Born
John Francis William Rogers

(1956-04-15) April 15, 1956 (age 68)
Alma materGeorge Washington University
OccupationBusinessman
Board member ofGoldman Sachs
SpouseDeborah Lehr
Children2
John F. W. Rogers
8th Under Secretary of State for Management
In office
October 9, 1991 – January 19, 1993
Preceded byIvan Selin
Succeeded byJ. Brian Atwood

Early life and education

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Rogers was born on April 15, 1956 in Seneca Falls, New York, where his father owned a wholesale frozen foods business and his mother was a dental hygienist. He is a graduate of George Washington University.[3]

Career

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Federal government

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Rogers has held two posts in U.S. government. He was a research assistant for President Gerald Ford's director of communications David Gergen and, later, an assistant to President Ronald Reagan, where, at age 27, he the youngest person to hold that position. When Reagan's chief of staff, James Baker, became Secretary of the Treasury, he took Rogers with him; Rogers was the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury from 1985 to 1987. From 1991 to 1993, during George H. W. Bush's administration, Rogers served as Under Secretary of State for Management.[3]

Goldman Sachs

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In 1994, Rogers joined Goldman Sachs in its Fixed Income Division and eventually became the chief of staff to CEOs Jon S. Corzine, Henry Paulson, Lloyd Blankfein, and David M. Solomon. He was made a partner in 2000,[4] and "has no revenue-generating responsibilities and strives to have virtually no public profile."[1] He is said to have been United States Treasury Secretary Paulson's closest advisor while at Goldman,[4] as well as a member of United States Secretary of State James Baker's inner circle.[3]

In 2011, CEO Lloyd Blankfein named Rogers one of the eleven executives of the firm.[3] As of 2019, he was executive vice president, chief of staff and secretary to the board of directors at Goldman as well as serving as chairman of the board of directors of the Atlantic Council, the American Atlanticist international affairs think tank.[5] Rogers is a life trustee and the treasurer of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. He also serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of the White House Historical Association, and Vice Chairman of the Board of the American Academy in Rome.[6] In September 2019, Rogers was one of the US financial community representatives invited to the White House state dinner for Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison.[7] In November 2019, he assisted 2020 Democratic Party presidential candidates to show that American small business was on their agenda.[8]

In April 2020, Rogers hosted the inauguration of The Finance 202, a new lobbying group for small businesses.[9] In 2020, he was appointed as the Chair of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Board of Directors for the year 2021.[10]

Awards

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In February 2020, Rogers was awarded the ICAA Arthur Ross Award in the patronage category, for his support of historic preservation.[11]

Personal life

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Rogers owns a home on Embassy Row in Washington, D.C., and is married to Deborah Lehr, with whom he has two children. Lehr, a journalist with Huffington Post,[12] was a former senior negotiator in the Clinton Administration on China trade policy.[13] In 2018, Rogers and Lehr attended President Trump's state dinner with President Emmanuel Macron of France.[14]

According to a 2006 profile in The New York Times, Rogers, who is interested in historic preservation, "does not welcome public scrutiny"[4] and hates being photographed.[1] His friends "compare him to the George Smiley character in John le Carré's spy novels. Mr. Rogers, a slight, retiring man with a preference for tan raincoats, brings the kind of technical staff expertise and, his friends say, the ability to gravitate toward the seat of power in bureaucracies that recall Le Carré's spymaster."[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Cohan, William D. (1 September 2011). "Meet John F. W. Rogers, Goldman's Quiet Power Player". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  2. ^ "Board of Directors". Goldman Sachs. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d Roche, Julia La (September 4, 2011). "The Fabulous Life Of One Of The Scariest, Most Important People At Goldman Sachs". Business Insider. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d Thomas Jr., Landon (2 June 2006). "A Seamless Major Domo, on Wall St. or in Washington". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  5. ^ Mitchell, Arego. "John F.W. Rogers". www.atlanticcouncil.org. Atlantic Council. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  6. ^ "The Honorable John F.W. Rogers". National Museum of American History. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  7. ^ Loussikian, Kylar (25 September 2019). "CBD Melbourne: PM lunches with some heavy-hitters". The Age. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  8. ^ Newmyer, Tory (30 November 2019). "Goldman Sachs seeks to rebrand as wealth takes center stage in the Democratic presidential race". The Washington Post. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  9. ^ Newmyer, Tory (30 April 2020). "The Finance 202: Goldman Sachs is launching a new lobbying group for small businesses". The Washington Post. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  10. ^ "On The Move: Nasdaq Promotes Dennison to CFO; Ludvik to Goldman Sachs". Traders Magazine. 26 October 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  11. ^ Owens, Mitchell (21 February 2020). "The Winners of This Year's ICAA Arthur Ross Awards Have Been Announced". Architectural Digest. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  12. ^ Lehr, Deborah (17 December 2014). "Digging Out of Tourism Downfalls: Egypt's Archaeology Takes the Stage". Huffington Post.
  13. ^ Guha, Krishna; Kirchgaessner, Stephanie (October 11, 2006). "Paulson appointee quits after three weeks". Financial Times. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  14. ^ Times, The New York (24 April 2018). "Trump and Macron's State Dinner: The Guest List". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
Government offices
Preceded by Under Secretary of State for Management
October 9, 1991 – January 19, 1993
Succeeded by