Gary Cohn

Gary David Cohn (born August 27, 1960) is an American businessman and philanthropist who served as the 11th Director of the National Economic Council and chief economic advisor to President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2018.

He managed the administration's economic policy agenda.

Before serving in the White House, Cohn was president and COO of Goldman Sachs, where he worked for more than 25 years.

Cohn was appointed vice-chairman of IBM on January 5, 2021.

Following his White House service, Cohn became an advisor and venture capital investor for companies operating in the cybersecurity, blockchain infrastructure, and medical technology sectors.

He currently serves on the Board of Advisors for Hoyos Integrity, a startup company employing biometric blockchain technology for secure communications and digital payments, and vice chairman of IBM.

Cohn is also the chairman of the advisory board at Pallas Advisors, a national security strategic advisory firm based in Washington, D.C.

Gary Cohn was born to an Eastern European Jewish family, the son of Victor and Ellen Cohn, and was raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

His father was an electrician who later became a real estate developer.

Cohn was diagnosed with dyslexia at a young age, and attended four schools by the time he reached the sixth grade.

Cohn's childhood experiences with dyslexia were a featured case study in David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell.

Cohn studied at Gilmour Academy, and attended American University's Kogod School of Business, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration in 1982.

Cohn started his career at the U.S. Steel home products division in Cleveland, Ohio.

After a few months, he left U.S. Steel and became an options dealer in the New York Mercantile Exchange.

He taught himself the basics of options by reading about it in the days between meeting the hiring manager and joining the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Cohn was hired by Goldman Sachs in 1990 and became a partner at the firm in 1994.

In 1996, he was named head of the commodities department, and in 2002, he was named the head of the Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities (FICC) division.

In 2003, he was named co-head of Equities, and in January 2004, Cohn was named the co-head of global securities businesses.

He became president and Co-Chief Operating Officer, and director in June 2006.

While at Goldman Sachs, Cohn was also a member of the firm's board of directors and Chairman of the Firmwide Client and Business Standards Committee.

In 2010, Cohn testified to Congress on the role of Goldman Sachs in the financial crisis of 2007–2008.

Cohn testified: "During the two years of the financial crisis, Goldman Sachs lost $1.2 billion in its residential mortgage-related business. We did not 'bet against our clients', and the numbers underscore this fact."

On January 5, 2021, Cohn was appointed Vice Chairman of IBM's board of directors.

On January 20, 2017, Cohn took office as Director of the National Economic Council (NEC) in President Donald Trump's administration, a position which did not require Congressional confirmation.

By February 11, 2017, The Wall Street Journal described Cohn as an "economic-policy powerhouse", and The New York Times called him Trump's "go-to figure on matters related to jobs, business, and growth".

With the confirmation of Trump's nominee for Secretary of Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, pending in the Senate, Cohn filled in the "personnel vacuum" and pushed "ahead on taxes, infrastructure, financial regulation, and replacing health-care law".

In addition to his $285 million Goldman Sachs severance package, Cohn also sold a stake in the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world's largest bank, then valued at $16 million.

Cohn supports reinstating the Glass-Steagall legislation, which would separate commercial and investment banking.

Under the Trump administration, Cohn was cited by the press as a supporter of globalism, and was given nicknames such as "Globalist Gary" and "Carbon Tax Cohn".

Along with Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, and Dina Powell, they were referred to by opponents as the "Wall Street-wing" of the Trump administration.

He was stated as being at odds with the populist faction that was led by Steve Bannon, when Bannon was White House Chief Strategist.

Cohn led the Trump administration's efforts to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

Cohn reportedly considered resigning from the National Economic Council after the 2017 Charlottesville rally and criticized the Trump administration's response to the rally, stating "I believe this administration can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning," white supremacists.

On March 6, 2018, Cohn announced his intention to resign; the announcement followed Trump's proposal to impose import tariffs on steel and aluminum, and Trump's cancellation of a meeting with end-users of steel and aluminum that Cohn had arranged in an attempt to dissuade the president from the planned tariffs.

He was replaced by Larry Kudlow on April 2.

Bob Woodward's 2018 book,Fear: Trump in the White House relates two instances in which Cohn removed draft letters from President Trump's desk, so that the President would not see them.

One of the letters would have canceled a key trade agreement with South Korea, and the other would have withdrawn the US unilaterally from the NAFTA trade agreement with Canada and Mexico.

Following his departure from the White House, Cohn became an advisor and venture capital investor for companies in the cybersecurity, blockchain, and digital payments sectors.

In a 2019 article in The Wall Street Journal, Cohn pointed to an increase of $6,000 in real disposable personal income per household, as well as the creation of seven million jobs, as evidence of the success of tax reform.

In August 2020, Jim Sciutto published a book called The Madman Theory in which Cohn said in response to Donald Trump saying that there were very good people on both sides of the protests which included white supremacists, "Citizens standing up for equality and freedom can never be equated with white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the KKK."