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Heath Tarbert

Heath Tarbert

Lecturer in Law

Dr. Heath P. Tarbert is Chief Legal Officer and Head of Corporate Affairs at Circle, a global financial technology firm that enables businesses of all sizes to harness the power of stablecoins and public blockchains for payments and commerce.

Prior to joining Circle, Dr. Tarbert was Chief Legal Officer of Citadel Securities, where he was responsible for the firm’s global legal, compliance, surveillance, and regulatory affairs functions.

Dr. Tarbert previously served as the 14th Chairman and Chief Executive of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Vice Chairman of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), and a voting member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC).

Before the CFTC, Dr. Tarbert was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Markets and Development, concurrently serving as G-7/G-20 Deputy Finance Minister, a member of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), and U.S. executive director of the World Bank Group. Earlier in his career, Dr. Tarbert served as a Supreme Court law clerk, Associate White House Counsel, Special Counsel to the Senate Banking Committee, and a partner at two international law firms.

Dr. Tarbert is the recipient of several public service awards including the Alexander Hamilton Award, the Department of the Treasury’s highest honor, the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service, and the Freedom of the City of London for strengthening financial regulatory relations between the United States and United Kingdom.

He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Public Administration, and an elected member of the American Law Institute. Dr. Tarbert is also a Fellow of the 2021 Class of the Finance Leaders Fellowship of the Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

A 2001 graduate of Penn Law, he was elected Class President and served as a Senior Editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Upon graduation, Dr. Tarbert was awarded the Oscar Bregman Prize for excellence in the field of Business Law, and he received the US-UK Thouron Award to pursue the study of comparative law at Oxford University.