J. Christopher Giancarlo

J. Christopher Giancarlo (born May 12, 1959) is an American attorney and former business executive who served as 13th chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Giancarlo was sworn in as a CFTC commissioner on June 16, 2014 for a term expiring on April 13, 2019. Starting on January 20, 2017, with President Donald Trump's inauguration, Giancarlo began serving as acting chair of the CFTC. In March 2017, the president nominated Giancarlo to be full-time chair of the commission. Giancarlo was confirmed as chairman of the commission by the United States Senate on August 3, 2017.

J. Christopher Giancarlo
13th Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
In office August 3, 2017 – July 15, 2019
President	Donald Trump
Preceded by	Timothy Massad
Succeeded by	Heath Tarbert
Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
In office June 16, 2014 – July 15, 2019
President	Barack Obama Donald Trump
Preceded by	Jill E. Sommers
Succeeded by	Heath Tarbert
Personal details
Born	1959 (age 61–62) Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Education	Skidmore College Vanderbilt University Law School

Early life and education

Giancarlo was born on May 12, 1959, in Jersey City, New Jersey to a family of physicians, nurses, and small business owners. He has four brothers, including Charles Giancarlo, an entrepreneur, investor, and former senior executive of Cisco Systems and Board Chairman of Avaya.

Giancarlo received primary and secondary education at the Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey from 1970 to 1977. He attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, where he graduated with college and Government Department Honors. At Skidmore, Giancarlo was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, of the Winter Term Scholarship Committee and a contributing editor to Politea magazine. In 1984, he received a Juris Doctor degree from the Vanderbilt University School of Law[1] where he was an associate research editor at the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law and President of the Law School's International Law Society. Since 1985, Giancarlo has been a member of the Bar of the State of New York.

Career

Business

From 2001 to 2014, Giancarlo served as the executive vice president of GFI Group Inc., an intermediary in the global over-the-counter and listed markets that offers trading technologies and products to financial market participants(NYSE: GFIG).[2] Giancarlo was responsible for GFI's strategic transactions and relationships, including mergers and acquisitions, equity finance, investment banking, strategy development, analyst and investor communications and government relations. During his tenure, Giancarlo directed GFI's initial public offering in 2005 and led the acquisition strategies of Trayport Limited and Amerex Brokers LLC.

Prior to joining GFI, Giancarlo was executive vice president and U.S. legal counsel of Fenics Software.[3] From September 1997 to April 2000, Giancarlo was a corporate partner in the New York law firm of Brown Raysman Millstein Felder and Steiner, where he advised technology businesses on corporate and finance transactions. He joined Brown Raysman from Giancarlo & Gleiberman, a law practice founded by Giancarlo in 1992 following his return from several years practicing law in London with the international firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle.

Giancarlo was a founding board member and former chairman of the Wholesale Markets Brokers Association (Americas), and served as chair of three annual conferences on Swap Execution Facilities, SEFCON I [4] October 4, 2010, SEFCON II [5] October 3, 2011 and SEFCON III[6] November 13, 2012 where he delivered opening and closing remarks. He was a member of the Leadership Board of the Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness of the United States Chamber of Commerce.[7] He was also a founding co-editor-in-chief of eSecurities, Trading and Regulation on the Internet, (Leader Publications) and has written and spoken extensively on public policy, legal and other matters concerning technology and the financial markets.

In February 2011, Giancarlo testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee of the U.S. Congress on implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank Act").[8] In October of that same year, Giancarlo also testified before the House Committee on Agriculture on Legislative Proposals Amending Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act.[9] In December 2012, he testified once more, this time before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises on "Challenges Facing the U.S. Capital Markets to Effectively Implement Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act".[10]

Government service

Giancarlo was nominated by President Barack Obama on August 1, 2013, to serve as a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).[11][12][13] On March 6, 2014, Giancarlo testified on his nomination before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, which approved the nomination on April 8, 2014. The U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination by unanimous consent on June 3, 2014 for a term expiring April 13, 2019.

On April 14, 2015, Giancarlo testified before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Agriculture Subcommittee on Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit regarding commercial end-user concerns, derivatives trading position limits, CFTC swaps trading rules and the cross-border impact of U.S. derivatives regulation.[14]

Having served as acting CFTC chair since President Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2017, Giancarlo was nominated by the president to be full-time chair of the commission on March 14, 2017, subject to confirmation by the Senate.[15] He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 3, 2017. His successor as commissioner and chairman, Heath Tarbert was confirmed by the Senate on June 5, 2019.

Cryptocurrency

Following service in the US government, Giancarlo took on several roles: senior counsel to the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher,[16] chairman of the board of Common Securitization Solutions LLC,[17] a joint venture between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and a member of the advisory board of the Chamber of Digital Commerce.[18]

Giancarlo is a blockchain technology advocate and contributor to the global discourse on cryptocurrencies and digital assets.[19][20] Mr. Giancarlo is the founder of the Digital Dollar Project, to "advance exploration of a United States Central Bank Digital Currency."[21]

Personal life

Giancarlo is married to Regina (Regina Marie Beyel) and has three children. Giancarlo is a former board chairman of the French American Academy and a former member of the borough of Haworth, New Jersey Board of Adjustment. Giancarlo plays banjo and guitar and is a former member and co-founder of the "Slacks," a north NJ music band. His banjo playing can be heard on the album "Grand Reveal" by British recording artist Mike Marlin that was released on April 8, 2013. Giancarlo is a practicing Catholic.[22]

References

1. Vanderbilt Law School Class of 1984
2. GFI Group
3. FENICS
4. SEFCON I
5. SEFCON II
6. SEFCON III
7. U.S. Chamber of Commerce
8. Testimony before The House Committee on Financial Services on "Implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act", February 15, 2011
9. Testimony before The House Committee on Agriculture on "Legislative Proposals Amending Title VII of The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act", October 12, 2011
10. Testimony before The House Committee on Agriculture on "Legislative Proposals Amending Title VII of The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act", December 12, 2012
11. President Obama announces more key administration posts
12. Presidential Nominations sent to the Senate
13. Opening Statement of Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow Hearing on Nominees for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
14. "Testimony of CFTC Commissioner J. Christopher Giancarlo Before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Agriculture, Subcommittee on Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit" (PDF). U.S. House Committee on Agriculture. U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture. April 14, 2015. Retrieved June 1, 2016.
15. Ackerman, Andrew, "Trump Nominates J. Christopher Giancarlo as CFTC Chairman" (subscription), Wall Street Journal, March 14, 2017. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
16. Strom, Roy (2019-12-02). "Ex-CFTC Chair, 'Crypto Dad' Giancarlo Joins Willkie Farr". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
17. "Giancarlo to Chair GSEs' Common Securitization Solutions". ABA Banking Journal. 2020-01-15. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
18. Chamber of Digital Commerce (2019-09-17). "Former CFTC Chairman Joins Chamber of Digital Commerce Board of Advisors". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
19. Gorfine, J. Christopher Giancarlo and Daniel (2019-10-15). "Opinion | We Sent a Man to the Moon. We Can Send the Dollar to Cyberspace". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2020-05-14.
20. Giancarlo, J. Christopher (April 12, 2016). "Comment: With blockchain, regulators should first do no harm". Financial Times.
21. "Digital Dollar Project". Digital Dollar Project. Retrieved 2020-05-14.
22. "CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo Response to Bollettino"