Gene Ludwig is an internationally recognized leader on matters relating to banking, including financial technology, regulation, risk management, and fiscal policy. He is a managing partner of Canapi Ventures, which is focused on investments in early to growth-stage fintech companies. He is the founder and CEO of Ludwig Advisors, which provides counsel to leading financial institutions on critical issues. Gene is founder and former CEO and chairman of Promontory Financial Group, where he was an IBM executive after the firm was acquired. He was the founder and CEO of Promontory Interfinancial Network (now IntraFi), a technology leader in deposit services he sold to Blackstone.
In 2019, Gene founded the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP), which is dedicated to improving the economic well-being of middle- and lower-income Americans. Its research includes the creation of more meaningful economic indicators for unemployment, earnings, and cost of living. LISEP’s statistics aim to provide policymakers and the public with a more realistic view into the economic situation of all Americans as compared with traditionally relied-upon metrics. Gene is the author of The Vanishing American Dream: A Frank Look at the Economic Realities Facing Middle- and Lower-Income Americans.
As U.S. Comptroller of the Currency from 1993 to 1998, Gene served as the Clinton administration’s point person on the policy response to the credit crunch of the early 1990s. He fashioned an 11-point plan that was instrumental in helping banks begin to lend again and fulfill their role of supporting the economy. Under his purview, lending to low- and moderate-income Americans increased tenfold, as did national bank investments in community development corporations. He brought 27 fair-lending cases, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in fines against violators. Before he was Comptroller, he was a partner at Covington & Burling. Gene graduated magna cum laude from Haverford College; he earned an M.A. from Oxford University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
Gene spearheaded the Carol and Gene Ludwig Program in Public Sector Leadership at Yale Law School, which is focused on educational and professional support to Yale Law students who aspire to leadership roles in the public sector. The Ludwig Program helps prepare students for careers in areas such as government, nonprofits, and other institutions focused on serving the public.
