Faculty
Gary Gensler is Professor of the Practice of Global Economics and Management as well as of Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He conducts research and teaches on artificial intelligence, finance, financial technology, and public policy.
Gensler most recently served as the 33rd Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission during the Biden Administration. He led the agency through a robust reform agenda to enhance efficiency, resiliency, and integrity in the $120 trillion U.S. capital markets.
Previously, Gensler served as Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the Obama Administration, leading reform of the $400 trillion swaps market. He also served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance, and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton Administration as well as Senior Advisor to Senator Paul Sarbanes in writing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002). He also was Chairman of the Maryland Financial Consumer Protection Commission (2017-2019).
Gensler co-hosts (with Simon Johnson) the 'Power and Consequences' podcast. He co-edited ‘The Economic Consequences of the Second Trump Administration’ (CEPR Press, 2025) and authored a book on investing for everyday Americans, The Great Mutual Fund Trap, (Broadway Books, 2002).
Prior to his public service, Gensler worked at Goldman Sachs, where he became partner in the Mergers & Acquisition department, headed the firm’s Media Group, led fixed income & currency trading in Asia, and lastly co-headed Finance, being responsible for the firm's worldwide Controllers and Treasury functions.
He is a recipient of the 2014 Tamar Frankel Fiduciary Prize and the US Treasury’s highest honor, the Alexander Hamilton Award. Based on student nominations, he won the MIT Sloan 2019 Outstanding Teacher Award.
Gensler earned his undergraduate degree in economics and his MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
He has three daughters, and is from Baltimore, Maryland.
Gensler, Gary and Lily Bailey, MIT Sloan Working Paper 6223-20. Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan School of Management, November 2020. SSRN Link.
MIT Sloan School of Management experts weighed in on the state of business and the growing importance of artificial intelligence at MIT Sloan Reunion 2026.
Here are six titles connected to the MIT Sloan School of Management covering topics such as economic strategy, entrepreneurship, talent management, and cultural evolution in the age of AI.
Professor of the practice Gary Gensler joined Bloomberg "Open Interest" to break down how AI could trigger bank stress by shifting deposits, fuel an "AI bubble" retrenchment, and expose hidden risks in private equity and credit. He also discussed Anthropic's stark S‑1 warnings and what it really signals for investors and financial stability.
In an interview with Bloomberg Surveillance, professor of the practice Gary Gensler said that there are safety issues, pointing to when OpenAI models breached the technology firm Hugging Face earlier this year. He noted concerns around AI's capabilities and said that while it is possible to put up safeguards, competition with China presents a "big, consequential wrinkle."
Professor of the practice Gary Gensler joined CNBC's 'Squawk Box' to discuss AI safety concerns, calls for a slowdown in AI development, the impact on AI IPOs, the state of AI arms race with China, what a regulatory framework could look like, his thoughts on the Clarity Act, the impact on the crypto industry at large, and more.
A handful of so-called hyperscalers are investing huge amounts of money to build AI data centers. While the hyperscalers plan to spend trillions, total AI revenues will be around $150 billion to $200 billion this year, says professor of the practice Gary Gensler. "The challenge is that the spending does not have commensurate revenues yet. That's a fact," he said. "And then the question is, is that an investment that will be paid off in the future?"
