Jon Corzine - Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs

Over the years, he worked his way up to Chairman and CEO of the company in 1994 and successfully converted the investment firm from a private partnership to a publicly traded corporation. Corzine's predecessor had led Goldman to its first money-losing year in its 129-year history and to its near collapse as a firm. Corzine also chaired a presidential commission for Bill Clinton and served on the U.S. Treasury Department's borrowing committee. As a Goldman Sachs senior partner, he was summoned to help develop a rescue package for the hedge fund Long Term Capital Management when the leveraged fund's collapse in the fall of 1998 threatened contagion across the U.S. financial system. According to U.S. News & World Report, Corzine did not get along with co-CEO Henry Paulson, who came from the other major area of the bank, investment banking. When Corzine decided to help the bailout, Paulson seized control of the firm. As co-chairman of the firm, he oversaw its expansion into Asia. When Goldman Sachs went public after Corzine's departure, Corzine made $400 million.

Corzine has participated in meetings of the Bilderberg Group, a network of leaders in the fields of politics, business, and banking, from 1995–1997, 1999, 2003 and 2004.