Jerome Powell's career on Wall Street spanned nearly three decades before leading the Fed. David Rubenstein, founder of Carlyle Group (CG), is among the few who work closely with him. Rubenstein said at a meeting last week that Powell described Powell as “a good guy, a training lawyer, not an investment banker, not an economist,” and praised that background for his success as chairman of the Federal Reserve.
“He explained what he was going to do before he did, and many feeding chairs didn't do it,” Rubeinstein said in a stage interview at the World Economic Summit in Semafor on Friday (April 25). “When Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan were in the chairs, they took action and you have to figure out what they did later because they didn't have a press conference.”
The Fed's tradition of hosting press conferences began in 2011, following the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. Powell expanded this practice (now introduced to the news media after each FOMC meeting), and the committee met eight times a year to improve transparency and communication around monetary policy.
Powell was a partner at Carlyle from 1997 to 2005, leading the acquisition fund in the United States. After leaving the private equity firm, he founded Severn Capital Partners and then returned to public service in 2012, being a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Directors nominated by former President Barack Obama. He served as chairman in 2018.
Powell recently made headlines after Donald Trump threatened to fire him – Trump took a step back later. The president criticized the Fed's interest rate policy and Powell's warning that tariffs would drive higher inflation.
Faced with this attack, Rubenstein praised Powell's peace. He said: “One thing he did well was not to respond to criticism and turn to the audience and ask: “How many of you want to be beaten by leaders of the free world and just not say anything in your defense? ”
“Jay has basically been very good at lowering his head and not criticizing anyone who criticizes him, but just dealing with the issues the Fed sees,” he added. “I think he has confidence [Fed] Board of Directors and people’s confidence in setting interest rates. ”
Powell's stable leadership in Washington and Wall Street during the shared 19th pandemic was widely respected, reducing interest rates to near zero, launching a massive bond purchase program and supporting emergency loan facilities. Powell's slow response to post-pandemic inflation has been criticized, but Powell's corrections quickly proved to hike at its fastest pace in four decades while successfully avoiding recession.
