Dr. Alan Greenspan

Dr. Greenspan will be giving the Morning Keynote at the MeriTalk 2011 Innovation Nation Forum.

For 18 1/2 years, Alan Greenspan served as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Greenspan also served as chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, the System's principal monetary policymaking body. He originally took office as chairman and to fill an unexpired term as a member of the Board on August 11, 1987. Greenspan was reappointed to the Board to a full 14-year term, which began February 1, 1992, and ended January 31, 2006. He was designated chairman by Presidents Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush.

Greenspan was born on March 6, 1926, in New York City. He received a B.S. in economics (summa cum laude), M.A. and Ph.D. all from New York University. Greenspan also has performed advanced graduate studies at Columbia University

From 1954 to 1974 and from 1977 to 1987, Greenspan was chairman and president of Townsend-Greenspan & Co., Inc., an economic consulting firm in New York City. From 1974 to 1977, he served as chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers under President Ford, and from 1981 to 1983, as chairman of the National Commission on Social Security Reform.

Greenspan was appointed a member of President Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board, the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, the Commission on Financial Structure and regulation, the Commission on an All-Volunteer Armed Force and the Task Force on Economic Growth.

Before his appointment to the Federal Reserve Board, Greenspan served as a director of numerous corporations, including J.P. Morgan & Co., Inc.; Mobil Corporation; Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa); General Foods Corp; and Capital Cities/ABC, Inc.

He was a term member of the Board of Trustees of the Rand Corporation, a member of the Board of Overseers of the Hoover Institution (at Stanford University) and vice chairman and trustee of the Economic Club of New York.

Greenspan has served as chairman of the Conference of Business Economists, president and fellow of the National Association of Business Economists and a fellow of the American Statistical Association.

Greenspan has received honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, Pennsylvania, Notre Dame, Leuven (Belgium) and Edinburgh universities. He received the Legion of Honor (Commander) from France, became an honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire and received the Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civil award.

Greenspan heads Greenspan Associates, a consulting firm in Washington, D.C. and is the author of The Age of Turbulence (September 2007).

Photo credit for image of Dr. Greenspan.