Have you ever thought about who helps shape how countries trade and grow? Jeffrey Gartenhas played a major part in shaping global trade in recent decades. He served as Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade under President Bill Clinton, working on deals with big markets like China, India, and Brazil. Later, he became dean of the Yale School of Management and now teaches there as Dean Emeritus. Before his government and academic roles, he spent over a decade on Wall Street with firms like Lehman Brothers and the Blackstone Group. His writing on the global economy has appeared in major publications and he is the author of several well-known books on trade, leadership, and globalization. Jeffrey Garten was born in 1946 into a military family. His father served with distinction in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, and received high honors for bravery. Because of his father's military service, the family moved often; Garten lived in places like England, Germany, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Kentucky as a child.
He graduated from Phillips Andover Academy in 1964, then earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College in 1968, where he majored in government. To help pay for college, he joined ROTC and served in the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. From 1968 to 1972, he rose to the rank of Captain in the Special Forces and worked as an aide to a commanding officer. He also learned to speak Thai, and in 1971 he served as a military advisor to the Royal Thai Army on the Thailand–Burma border.
After his military service, he continued his studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He earned an M.A. in 1972 and a Ph.D. in 1980, focusing on international economics and institutions. With this education and background, he was well-prepared for roles in government, finance, and academia.
Jeffrey Garten served as dean of the Yale School of Management from 1995 to 2005. During his leadership, he helped launch key initiatives such as the International Center for Finance, the International Institute for Corporate Governance, a venture capital fund for local projects, and a partnership program focused on nonprofit ventures. Under his guidance, student applications grew by 75%, the faculty expanded significantly, and alumni giving rose to one of the highest levels for any business school.
After stepping down as dean, he continued teaching full time at Yale as Dean Emeritus and held the Juan Trippe Professorship in International Trade, Finance, and Business from 2005 to 2015. He teaches a range of graduate-level courses on global themes including “The Future of Global Finance,” “Managing Global Catastrophes,” “Wall Street and Washington: Markets, Policy and Politics,” “Understanding Global Financial Centers,” and “Leading a Global Company.”
Each of these courses includes international components: for example, he led study trips with students to Singapore (focused on public‑private governance), New York, London, Dubai, and Hong Kong (to explore what makes a global financial center), and Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong (to study China’s role in global capital markets).
In addition to classroom teaching, Garten is active in the Yale alumni and global management community. He has hosted and moderated panels during Global Network Week, part of the Yale School of Management’s Global Network of Advanced Management, discussing how globalization affects teamwork and leadership across cultures.