Timothy George Massad (born July 30, 1956) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the chairman of the

Commodity Futures Trading Commission The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US government created in 1974 that regulates the U.S. derivatives markets, which includes futures contract, fut ...

(CFTC) under President Barack Obama. He had previously been Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability at the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

, where he oversaw the

Troubled Asset Relief Program The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is a program of the United States government to purchase toxic assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector that was passed by Congress and signed into law by U.S. Presi ...

(TARP) created by the U.S. government in response to the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

. Massad earned his undergraduate degree at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1978. After stints working for

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American lawyer and political activist involved in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. He is a Perennial candidate, perennial presidential candidate. His 1965 book '' ...

and the

AFL–CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...

, he returned to Harvard to earn a J.D. degree in 1981. He then began a 25-year career as a corporate lawyer at the firm

Cravath, Swaine & Moore Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (known as Cravath; ) is an American white-shoe law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm has additional offices in London and Washington, D.C. History In 1854, former college classmates William H. Seward (la ...

, where he became an expert on

corporate finance Corporate finance is an area of finance that deals with the sources of funding, and the capital structure of businesses, the actions that managers take to increase the Value investing, value of the firm to the shareholders, and the tools and analy ...

and derivatives. Massad briefly joined the staff of TARP's

Congressional Oversight Panel The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act created the Troubled Asset Relief Program to administer up to $700 billion. Several oversight mechanisms are established by the bill, including the Congressional Oversight Panel, the Special Inspector Gene ...

before moving to the Office of Financial Stability as chief counsel. In September 2010 he was named acting Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability. The

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

confirmed him to the position in June 2011. In November 2013,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

nominated him to be CFTC chairman. The Senate confirmed him in June 2014.

Early life and education

Massad was born July 30, 1956,WhoRunsGov
Tim Massad
''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. Accessed Jan. 6, 2014. in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

.Douwe Miedema
New swaps regulator must prove mettle in Wall Street reform

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

, Nov. 12, 2013. Accessed Jan. 6, 2014. His parents were the children of Lebanese immigrants. His mother, Delores Jean Razook, was a homemaker, and his father, Alexander Hamilton Massad, was an executive in the oil industry, mostly at

Mobil Mobil Oil Corporation, now known as just Mobil, is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil, formerly known as Exxon, which took its current name after history of ExxonMobil#merger, it and Mobil merge ...

. In Timothy's earlier years the family moved often because of his father's career, but in 1968 they settled in

Darien, Connecticut Darien ( ) is a coastal town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. With a population of 21,499 and a land area of just under , it is the smallest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Connecticut), Gold Coast. Situated on the Long Island ...

, where the parents remained for 18 years. Massad has a brother and a sister.Alexander Massad: obituary
''

The Oklahoman ''The Oklahoman'' is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circul ...

'', Jan. 19, 2010. Accessed Jan. 6, 2014. Massad graduated from Darien High School in 1974 as a National Merit Scholar and interned with a

Congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

.Stephen Voss
Tim Massad: Washington's most powerful money manager?
'' The Washingtonian'', Sep. 8, 2011. Accessed Jan. 6, 2014.Francis X. Fay, Jr. Darien native quarterbacking Dukakis' Connecticut campaign. '' The Hour'', Sep. 12, 1988, p. 1 He then enrolled at

, earning a bachelor's degree ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' in social studies in 1978. After graduation he went to work for

and also worked for the

, a

labor movement The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...

organization. During this time he was active in the

anti-nuclear movement The Anti-nuclear war movement is a new social movements, social movement that opposes various nuclear technology, nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified them ...

.Paul W. Valentine, Karlyn Barker. The protestors: 65,000 protest dependence on A-energy. ''

'', May 7, 1979.

Legal career

Dissatisfied with his employers' grasp of business and economics, Massad enrolled at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in 1981. In 1983 he helped organize a petition against permitting professors to count class participation toward students' grades. He graduated in 1984 and began his 25-year career at the law firm

that same year. At Cravath he became a generalist in

corporate law Corporate law (also known as company law or enterprise law) is the body of law governing the rights, relations, and conduct of persons, companies, organizations and businesses. The term refers to the legal practice of law relating to corpora ...

with focus on

and international business. He was mostly based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, but he also worked at Cravath's

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

office for a year and co-managed the

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

office from 1998 to 2002.Timothy Massad

, Jul. 1, 2011. Accessed Jan. 6, 2014. In 2007 he headed Cravath's

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

practice. During his time at Cravath he became an expert on derivatives and securities law, co-writing with other Cravath lawyers the

ISDA Master Agreement The ISDA Master Agreement, published by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), is the most commonly used master service agreement for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives transactions internationally. It is part of a framew ...

that governs most derivatives contracts between institutions.

Government service

The

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, also known as the "bank bailout of 2008" or the "Wall Street bailout", was a United States federal law enacted during the Great Recession, which created federal programs to "bail out" failing fi ...

was enacted in October 2008 in response to the

. It created the Office of Financial Stability within the Treasury Department to administer the

(TARP), a $700-billion

bailout A bailout is the provision of financial help to a corporation or country which otherwise would be on the brink of bankruptcy. A bailout differs from the term ''bail-in'' (coined in 2010) under which the bondholders or depositors of global syst ...

fund for the financial industry. Massad became involved in TARP when he called a friend, Damon Silvers, to congratulate him on being named to the program's

. During this conversation, Silvers recruited him to join the panel's staff.Michael R. Crittenden
Treasury official Massad to step down
''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', Oct. 4, 2013. Accessed Jan. 6, 2014. Massad took a leave of absence from Cravath from December 2008 to February 2009 to be a

pro bono ( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...

legal adviser to the panel.Peter Schroeder
Massad turns out the lights on TARP
'' The Hill'', Jun. 10, 2011. Accessed Jan. 6, 2014. Later, when Treasury officials were looking for a chief counsel for the Office of Financial Stability, Silvers recommended Massad. Massad left Cravath in May 2009 to take the position. Following the departure of Herbert M. Allison, the

Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability The Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability was the head of the Office of Financial Stability in the United States Department of the Treasury. The position was created on October 3, 2008 by the Emergency Economic Stabilization A ...

, Massad was named acting Assistant Secretary beginning in September 2010. The

confirmed his appointment as Assistant Secretary in June 2011. In this role he has supervised the gradual wind-down of TARP. Massad announced in October 2013 that he would resign as Assistant Secretary. The next month,

announced he would nominate Massad to be chairman of the

, the federal agency that regulates derivatives. That post became vacant on Jan. 3, 2014, when

Gary Gensler Gary Scott Gensler (born October 18, 1957) is an American former government official and former investment banker who served as the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from 2021 to 2025. Gensler previously worked for Goldm ...

stepped down. The Senate confirmed him on June 3, 2014. He was sworn in on June 5.

Political activities

Timothy Massad certifies last AIG receipt

Massad is a longtime donor to the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...

and to Democratic candidates, including

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

in the 2004 presidential election and Obama and

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

in the 2008 presidential election. He was active in the anti-nuclear movement in the years before he went to law school, organizing with Donald K. Ross a large protest in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, on May 6, 1979, in the wake of the

Three Mile Island accident The Three Mile Island accident was a partial nuclear meltdown of the Unit 2 reactor (TMI-2) of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station, located on the Susquehanna River in Londonderry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Londonderry T ...

. During law school Massad worked on

Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis ( ; born November 3, 1933) is an American politician and lawyer who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history and only the s ...

's successful 1982 campaign for

Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The governor is the chief executive, head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonw ...

. During the 1988 presidential election Massad again supported Dukakis, whom he described as his political hero. Massad was a voting delegate at the 1988 Democratic National Convention, where Dukakis was nominated for president, and took a leave of absence from Cravath to serve as

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

director of the Dukakis campaign for the general election. Dukakis lost Connecticut, and the election, to

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

Personal life

Massad is an accomplished cook. In his early years at Cravath he spent his vacations as a volunteer apprentice at the

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

restaurant Bouley.Alexandrea Stevenson, Ben Protess
Obama nominates Treasury official as top derivatives regulator
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', Nov. 12, 2013. Accessed Jan. 6, 2014. He is known at Treasury for running a baking contest among his staff.Andrew Ackerman and Michael R. Crittenden
Compared to CFTC, heading TARP may have been easy job
''

'', Nov. 12, 2013. Accessed Jan. 6, 2014. Massad is married to Charlotte Hart. He has two children, Emil, who is attending

, and Jayne, who will attend

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

and has been dancing for CityDance. They live in Washington, D.C on Ellicott St.

References