Wendy Lee Gramm (nee Wendy Lee on January 10, 1945 in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
) is an American economist and former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for the Reagan administration. She is also the wife of former United States Senator Phil Gramm. Gramm has gained notoriety for her role in the Enron scandal.
Early life
Wendy Lee Gramm was born in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
and is of
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
n and
Native Hawaiian
Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawa ...
ancestry. She received a B.A. degree in
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
in 1971. In her role at the
Mercatus Center
The Mercatus Center is an American libertarian, free-market-oriented non-profit think tank. Located at George Mason University and directed by the American economist Tyler Cowen, the Mercatus Center works with policy experts, lobbyists, and gov ...
, Gramm generally called for deregulation of the energy industry. For eight years, Gramm taught in the Department of Economics at
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
and later served on the
Texas A&M University System
The Texas A&M University System is a state university system in Texas and is one of the state's six independent university systems.
The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the United States, with a bu ...
Board of Regents.
Career
Wendy Lee Gramm held several positions in the
Reagan Administration
Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over ...
: executive director of the Presidential Task Force on Regulatory Relief, head of the White House Office of Management and Budget's regulatory review office, director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Economics, head of the
Office of Management and Budget
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, pol ...
Enron
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional compani ...
, and a few days after the election of Bill Clinton in 1993 and Gramm was set to lose her chairmanship, the CFTC exempted Enron from regulation in trading of energy derivatives. Six days later, she resigned from CFTC and took a seat on the Enron Board of Directors and served on its Audit Committee.
Her husband Phil Gramm's 1996 presidential bid was cut short by a political scandal arising from his past investments in the porn industry, which led the New York Post to nickname him "Porno Gramm".
While on the board of directors she received donations from Enron to support the Mercatus Center. According to
Public Citizen
Public Citizen is a non-profit, Progressivism in the United States, progressive consumer rights advocacy group and think tank based in Washington, D.C., United States, with a branch in Austin, Texas, Austin, Texas.
Lobbying efforts
Public Citizen ...
, Enron paid her between $915,000 and $1.85 million in salary from 1993 to 2001. Enron also became the biggest donor to Phil Gramm's political actions. A little under $100,000 were contributed to his campaigns between 1999 and 2001. In 1999, the
Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act
The Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (GLBA), also known as the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, () is an act of the 106th United States Congress (1999–2001). It repealed part of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933, removing barriers in ...
was passed, which repealed part of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933 which prohibited any institution from acting as any combination of an investment bank, a commercial bank, and an insurance company. It allowed over-the-counter trading of derivatives which had previously been restricted to regulated exchanges.
In 1998, she declared "In my view, there are no systemic problems in the OTC derivatives market”. In 1999, she sold her shares of Enron ($300,000), asserting that being a director and a shareholder of the company constituted a conflict of interest.
Then right before George W. Bush was elected, Phil Gramm introduced the Commodity Futures Modernization Act which deregulated the trading of derivatives.
After the Enron scandal was publicized in October 2001, Gramm and the other directors of the energy company were named in several investor lawsuits, many of which have been settled. In particular, Gramm and other Enron directors agreed to a $168 million settlement in a suit led by the
University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...
. As part of that settlement, the directors agreed to collectively pay $13 million to settle claims of insider trading. The remainder of the settlement was to be paid by insurance.
After Enron, she became head of the Regulatory Studies Program of the Mercatus Center. She expressed no regrets regarding the Enron debacle which she considered a success. On November 1, 2007, she became the chairman of the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
In 2011, she appeared on a television spot with her husband, calling on Texans to shoulder the burden of the economic crisis.
On October 1, 2019, she resigned as the chairman of the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Gramm also served as a director of the
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2011, p. 134 She has sat on the boards of
Enron Corporation
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. B ...
State Farm Insurance Companies
State Farm Insurance is a large group of mutual insurance companies throughout the United States with corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois.
Overview
State Farm is the largest property and casualty insurance provider, and the lar ...
.
Ronald Reagan once said Gramm was "my favorite economist."
Personal life
Wendy Lee Gramm met her husband when she was interviewed by him as a PhD student for a position at
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
. Phil Gramm, a senior professor, expressed his interest for her after the interview. Six weeks after she arrived on campus, they wed.
She has two sons: Jeff, who is in the indie-rock band Aden, and Marshall, a professor of economics at the Presbyterian-affiliated
Rhodes College
Rhodes College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Memphis, Tennessee. Historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA), it is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Sout ...