Gretchen C. Morgenson (born January 2, 1956) is an American,

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

-winning

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

notable as longtime writer of the ''Market Watch'' column for the Sunday "Money & Business" section of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. In November, 2017, she moved from the ''Times'' to ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''.

Early life and education

Morgenson was born January 2, 1956, in State College,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. She graduated in 1976 from

St. Olaf College St. Olaf College is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American pastors and farmers led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after the King and the Patron Saint Olaf ...

Northfield, Minnesota Northfield is a city in Dakota and Rice counties in the State of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 census. History Northfield was platted in 1856 by John W ...

with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in English and History.

Career

She worked as an assistant editor with ''

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'' magazine, eventually becoming a writer and financial columnist. In 1981 she co-authored the book ''The Woman's Guide to the Stock Market'' and that same year joined the

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...

stockbroker A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stock ...

age,

Dean Witter Reynolds Dean Witter Reynolds was an American stock brokerage and securities firm catering to a variety of clients. Prior to the company's acquisition, it was among the largest firms in the securities industry with over 9,000 account executives (ranking ...

where she remained until January 1984. She returned to writing on financial matters at ''

Money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money ar ...

'' magazine and in late 1986 accepted an offer from ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' magazine to work as an editor and an investigative business writer. In mid-1993, she left ''Forbes'' magazine to become the executive editor at '' Worth'' magazine but in September 1995 took on the job of press secretary for the Presidential

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operat ...

campaign of

Steve Forbes Malcolm Stevenson Forbes Jr. (; born July 18, 1947) is an American publishing executive and politician who is the editor-in-chief of ''Forbes'', a business magazine. He is the son of longtime ''Forbes'' publisher Malcolm Forbes and the grandso ...

following which she was appointed assistant managing editor at ''Forbes'' magazine.

''The New York Times''

In May 1998, Morgenson became the assistant business and financial editor at ''

''. She has written about the conflicts of interests between

financial analyst A financial analyst is a professional, undertaking financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core feature of the job. The role may specifically be titled securities analyst, research analyst, equity analyst, investment analyst, ...

s and their employers who generate income money from the companies that the analysts assess. Beginning in 2005, Morgenson has been focusing on

executive compensation Executive compensation is composed of both the financial compensation (executive pay) and other non-financial benefits received by an executive from their employing firm in return for their service. It is typically a mixture of fixed salary, varia ...

packages being paid by American companies that she asserts have reached levels far in excess of what can be justified to shareholders. In 2006, Morgenson broke a story about a Wall Street analyst (Matthew Murray) who was fired shortly after he reported emails to Congress concerning potential violations of SEC regulation AC by the investment bank (Rodman & Renshaw) that he worked for at the time. The emails allegedly documented that the investment bank wouldn't let the analyst lower his rating, or have his name removed from coverage, of an investment banking client. A subsequent article by Morgenson highlighted a letter she obtained from the Senate Finance Committee in which Senator Grassley stated that the investment bank's chairman (General

Wesley Clark Wesley Kanne Clark (born December 23, 1944) is a retired United States Army officer. He graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, where he obtained a degree ...

) had acknowledged to his staff that the analyst had been fired from the investment bank as a result of reporting the emails to Congress. Rodman was subsequently fined $315,000 for “supervisory and other violations related to the interaction between the firm’s research and investment banking functions.” In 2009, ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'' called Morgenson "The Most Important Financial Journalist of Her Generation". In 2002 she won the Pulitzer Prize for her "trenchant and incisive" coverage of Wall Street. She has appeared on ''Bill Moyers Journal'', and ''Charlie Rose''.

''The Wall Street Journal''

In November, 2017, ''Wall Street Journal'' investigations editor Michael Siconolfi announced that Morgenson was joining the paper's investigative team as a senior special writer, working closely also with reporters in the money and investing group and the financial enterprise group.

Personal life

She is married, has a son and lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Awards

* 2009

Gerald Loeb Award The Gerald Loeb Award, also referred to as the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, is a recognition of excellence in journalism, especially in the fields of business, finance and the economy. The award was estab ...

for Beat Writing for "Wall Street" * 2009 Gerld Loeb Award for Large Newspapers for "The Reckoning" * 2003 Matrix Awards Hall of Fame Newspapers * 2002

Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting was presented from 1991 to 2006 for a distinguished example of beat reporting characterized by sustained and knowledgeable coverage of a particular subject or activity. From 1985 to 1990 it was known as the ...

"for her trenchant and incisive

coverage." * 2002 Gerald Loeb Award for Commentary

Bibliography

*''The Woman's Guide to the Stock Market'', Barbara Lee, Gretchen Morgenson, Harmony Books, 1982, *''Forbes Great Minds Of Business'', John Wiley, 1997, *''The Capitalist's Bible: The Essential Guide to Free Markets—And Why They Matter to You'', HarperCollins, 2009 *''Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon'', with Joshua Rosner,

Times Books Times Books (previously the New York Times Book Company) is a publishing imprint owned by the New York Times Company and licensed to Henry Holt and Company. Times Books began as the New York Times Book Company in 1969, when The New York Times Com ...

, 2011,

References

External links

* *
C-SPAN ''Q&A'' interview with Morgenson, July 1, 2012

Morgenson's Pulitzer Prize entry
* *
"Audit Interview: Gretchen Morgenson"
''

Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its contents include news and media industry trends, ana ...

'', Ryan Chittum, January 9, 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Morgenson, Gretchen 1956 births Living people American columnists American finance and investment writers Gerald Loeb Award winners for Large Newspapers Gerald Loeb Award winners for Columns, Commentary, and Editorials Gerald Loeb Award winners for Deadline and Beat Reporting People from State College, Pennsylvania Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting winners St. Olaf College alumni Stockbrokers The New York Times columnists American women columnists Writers from Pennsylvania 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women writers