Jon Stevens Corzine

Background

Corzine was born on January 1, 1947, in Taylorville, Illinois, and grew up on his family's farm in Wiley's Station, a rural community in central Illinois. His father, Roy Allen Corzine, was a farmer and insurance salesman, while his mother, Nancy June Hedrick Corzine, was a public-school teacher.

He graduated from high school in 1965 and entered adult life in the rural and agricultural environment of central Illinois. The community's local civic culture helped shape his early interest in public affairs before his education and professional career took him to Chicago, Ohio, New York, and New Jersey.

Education

Corzine earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1969 and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. The university, founded as Illinois Industrial University in 1867, had developed into a major public research institution whose programs connected liberal education with the scientific and technical needs of an industrializing state.

He attended the University of Chicago Booth School of Business while working in Chicago and received a Master of Business Administration in 1973. The University of Chicago's business school was known for analytical and quantitative approaches to economics and finance, traditions that formed part of the academic setting in which Corzine prepared for a career in banking and securities.

Rutgers University awarded him a Doctor of Law degree in 2006. Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, is the state's principal public research university and had a long-established role in educating the state's legal, governmental, and professional leadership.

Career

Corzine began his financial career at Continental Illinois National Bank in Chicago, where he worked as a bond officer and portfolio analyst from 1970 to 1973. He then served as an assistant vice president at BancOhio Corporation in Columbus, Ohio, from 1974 to 1975. These positions placed him in commercial and investment banking during a period when government securities and institutional capital markets were becoming increasingly important to American finance.

In 1975, Corzine joined Goldman Sachs in New York as a bond trader. Goldman Sachs, founded in 1869, was one of the leading American investment-banking partnerships, advising corporations, governments, and institutional investors. Corzine became a vice president in 1977, a partner in 1980, a member of the management committee in 1985, and co-head of the fixed-income division. He became chairman and chief executive officer in 1994 and helped guide the firm's conversion from a private partnership into a publicly traded corporation before leaving in 1999.

Corzine entered electoral politics after his financial career. He was elected to the United States Senate from New Jersey in 2000 and served from January 2001 until January 2006. In the Senate he served on committees dealing with banking, intelligence, foreign relations, the budget, energy, and finance-related public policy, and he chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during the 108th Congress.

Corzine became the 54th governor of New Jersey on January 17, 2006, succeeding Richard Codey, and served until January 19, 2010. His administration addressed education funding, early-childhood programs, family policy, infrastructure, taxation, and criminal justice; in 2007 he signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in New Jersey. He was defeated for reelection in 2009 by Republican Chris Christie.

In March 2010, Corzine became chairman and chief executive officer of MF Global Holdings Ltd., a global brokerage and financial-services company. The firm filed for bankruptcy in October 2011 after a liquidity crisis and the discovery of customer-fund shortfalls. Corzine later became associated with JDC-JSC Opportunity Fund as founder, chief executive officer, and chief investment officer, and he also held advisory and educational roles connected with public policy and higher education.

Achievements

• Corzine helped guide Goldman Sachs through its conversion from a private partnership into a publicly traded corporation in 1999, a major structural transformation in the history of the investment bank.

• As a United States senator, Corzine was an original co-sponsor of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, federal legislation that strengthened corporate accounting, disclosure, and governance requirements after major corporate scandals.

• As governor of New Jersey, Corzine signed legislation in 2007 abolishing the death penalty in the state.

• Corzine promoted expanded education funding, early-childhood education, paid family leave, and the Earned Income Tax Credit during his New Jersey governorship.

Religion

Corzine is identified with Methodism, a Protestant Christian tradition that developed from the eighteenth-century revival movement associated with John Wesley. Methodist religious life has emphasized personal faith, disciplined practice, social responsibility, and service to communities.

His public career unfolded in an American Protestant cultural setting in which religious affiliation often coexisted with civic service and political involvement. Documented accounts identify his affiliation as Methodist without establishing a more specific theological position or pattern of worship.

Politics

Corzine is a Democrat whose public career combined financial-sector experience with progressive Democratic policy positions. He served as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during the 108th Congress and represented New Jersey in the United States Senate from 2001 to 2006 before becoming governor.

As senator, Corzine focused on economic, financial, regulatory, and corporate-governance issues and was an original co-sponsor of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. As governor, he supported expanded education funding and early-childhood education, paid family leave, an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit, infrastructure financing, and criminal-justice reform, including the abolition of capital punishment in New Jersey in 2007.

His political outlook reflected the Democratic Party's progressive and interventionist currents of the early twenty-first century, while his financial background also shaped his attention to capital markets, public borrowing, and fiscal policy. His gubernatorial administration operated during the national financial crisis and the severe recession of 2007–2009.

Views

Corzine's public philosophy combined an emphasis on economic opportunity, public investment, and social responsibility with a strong belief in institutional reform. His legislative and gubernatorial record indicates support for using government to expand educational opportunity, assist working families, improve infrastructure, and reform criminal justice.

His approach was also shaped by experience in financial markets. He treated capital formation, public borrowing, corporate governance, and economic regulation as central public-policy concerns, while his Senate and gubernatorial work reflected the Democratic view that government should address social and economic inequalities through public programs and regulation.

Membership

Corzine held leadership and trustee roles in professional, cultural, educational, and civic organizations. His professional association work included service as vice chairman and chairman of the Public Securities Association, an organization representing participants in the public-securities markets.

He also served on boards connected with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the New York Philharmonic, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the University of Chicago, the New York Child Study Center, Overlook Hospital, Family Services of Summit, and the Summit Area YMCA. These organizations linked the financial and political worlds in which he worked with the cultural, educational, health, and social-service institutions of New York and New Jersey.

• Served as vice chairman in 1985 and chairman in 1986.

  Public Securities Association , United States

  1985 - 1986

• Served on the board of directors.

  New Jersey Performing Arts Center , United States

  1993 - 1994

• Served on the board of directors.

  New York Philharmonic , United States

  1996

• Served as a trustee.

  Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts , United States

• Served as a trustee.

  University of Chicago , United States

• Served as a trustee.

  New York Child Study Center , United States

• Co-chaired the Second Century Campaign.

  Summit Area YMCA , United States

Connections

Corzine is the son of Roy Allen Corzine and Nancy June Hedrick Corzine. He married Joanne Dougherty in 1969; they had three children, Jennifer, Joshua, and Jeffrey, and divorced in 2003. He later married Sharon Elghanayan in 2010.

His family life accompanied major transitions in his career, including the move from Illinois to New Jersey after he joined Goldman Sachs and the later transition from investment banking to public office. His son Jeffrey died in 2014.

Father:

Roy Allen Corzine

Was a farmer and insurance salesman.

Mother:

Nancy June Hedrick Corzine

Was a public-school teacher.

Son:

Joshua Corzine

Son:

Jeffrey Corzine

Died in 2014.

Daughter:

Jennifer Corzine

Wife:

Joanne Dougherty

Married Corzine in 1969; they divorced in 2003 and had three children.

Wife:

Sharon Elghanayan

Married Corzine in 2010.

References

• National Governors Association biography of Jon Corzine Documents Corzine's birth, upbringing in Illinois, education, Marine Corps Reserve service, Goldman Sachs career, Senate service, and governorship.
• Governor Jon S. Corzine Administration Archive Provides a biographical account and administrative context for Corzine's career as governor of New Jersey.
• Jon Corzine Named Goldman Sachs' Senior Partner Documents Corzine's positions at Goldman Sachs and his role in the firm's transition from a private partnership to a public company.
• Former Gov. Jon Corzine appointed Princeton visiting professor Documents Corzine's appointment as the John L. Weinberg Goldman Sachs Visiting Professor at Princeton University.
  2010
• Statement of Jon S. Corzine Contains Corzine's account of his education, military service, financial career, Senate service, governorship, and appointment as chief executive officer of MF Global.
  2011
• Corzine. Governor Jon S. Corzine New Jersey State Library collection of speeches, executive orders, reports, and other records from the Corzine administration.