The Georgetown Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy welcomed former Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Tim Geithner for a discussion focused on the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Geithner was joined by former colleague Jenni LeCompte, the former assistant secretary for public affairs at the Treasury Department.
The event began by recapping crucial moments of the financial crisis with a montage from the film Too Big to Fail. Tim Massad, former assistant secretary for financial stability at the U.S. Treasury, formally introduced the Great Recession to the audience before welcoming Geithner and LeCompte to the stage.
Additional clips from Too Big to Fail were selected as discussion points for Geithner and LeCompte, including the tumultuous bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the contagiousness of the crisis to other aspects of the U.S. and global economy, and various government interventions, such as the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Students heard about the process of managing large-scale financial challenges and shaping policy in a dynamic environment.
“A true testament to the purpose and impact of the Georgetown Psaros Center, this recent event welcoming Secretary Geithner showcases the center’s commitment to providing students interested in finance and government with one-of-a-kind learning opportunities,” Pavlos Tentomas (B’26) shared. “As a finance major, I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have heard about the financial crisis from Secretary Geithner, a leading figure whose work so meaningfully pulled the global economy through one of its most difficult times.”
To learn more about the financial crisis, recommended readings include Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises by Geithner, Too Big to Fail by The New York Times Financial Columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin, Implementing TARP: The Administrative Architecture of the Troubled Asset Relief Program co-authored by Massad, The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath by former Chair of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, and On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System by former Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Henry Paulson.
Follow the Georgetown Psaros Center on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube to stay up to date on all of our activities.