Eugene F. Swanzey

Gene Swanzey's career spans 30 years of private- and public-sector experience. He spent most of his career with The Chase Manhattan Banking Corporation where he was Senior Vice President. He also founded and managed his own government relations firm where he represented a number of clients, including the business community of New York City. He was a co-Founder of Global Development Partners, a Washington DC-based international government relations consulting firm, and was a Founding Partner in the investment banking firm, Stonecroft Capital.

From 1975 to 1981, Mr. Swanzey was a corporate Vice President in the Office of the Chairman, reporting to David Rockefeller, Chairman and CEO. As assistant to Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Swanzey managed a wide variety of duties and worked closely with the Board of Directors and senior management. He represented Chase to leaders of corporate America, governmental decision makers, and global dignitaries, working on complicated issues of major importance to Chase senior management, the Board of Directors, and shareholders. One of his most significant efforts with Mr. Rockefeller was to assist in the establishment of The New York City Partnership, the leading business organization in New York City. Mr. Swanzey worked with this organization to help raise capital to rebuild the New York City’s infrastructure after the 9/11 tragedy.

From 1981 to 1996, Mr. Swanzey was Director of Government Affairs for Chase, and from 1997 to 1998, he was Senior Vice President for Government Affairs for the newly merged Chase and Chemical Bank corporations. These were two critical decades for the financial services industry in which such vital issues as the Third World Debt Crisis, the Savings and Loan Crisis, real estate finance failures, interstate banking, and financial modernization were legislated, regulated and debated in the public arena. For much of this period Mr. Swanzey managed all public policy issues, initiatives and relationships affecting Chase at all government levels, including: federal agency, congressional, multi-state, municipal and local. He also counseled on global issues. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mr. Swanzey helped lead the successful effort to change antiquated and regressive federal and state financial service industry laws. Throughout his tenure at Chase Manhattan, Mr. Swanzey worked with the corporation’s senior-most management and its Board of Directors to address major issues affecting Chase.

Mr. Swanzey left Chase in 1998 after helping the newly merged Chase and Chemical Bank corporations meet all required legislative and regulatory hurdles. He was recruited by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and became Director of Legislative Affairs. In this capacity, Mr. Swanzey managed government relations, public policy issues and initiatives, and state and local government relations. He also became a leading voice on issues affecting the real estate finance industry.

Prior to his career in the private sector, Mr. Swanzey was a staff assistant to Nelson A. Rockefeller, Governor of the State of New York and later Vice President of the United States. During his tenure with Governor Rockefeller, Mr. Swanzey was responsible for staffing high-level gubernatorial appointments on behalf of the Governor.

Mr. Swanzey holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration and Policy (MPA) from New York University and a BA from St. Francis College of New York. He has been a college lecturer on the nexus between business and government regulatory policy. His wife Arlene has been a college educator. Their daughter is an attorney and psychologist, and their son is a Vice President with a publicly-traded investment bank.