CHEVY CHASE, MD, November 06, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to honor Kenneth A. Guenther with inclusion in Who's Who in the World. An accomplished listee, Mr. Guenther celebrates many years' experience in his professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes he has accrued in his field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Mr. Guenther has retired after more than four decades of excellence in diplomacy, government counsel and leadership in the financial services sector. He holds a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from the University of Rochester, and pursued additional postgraduate studies through the School of Advanced International Studies and SAIS Southeast Asia Program whose first overseas office was opened at the University of Rangoon, Rangoon, Burma in 1954 and the Yale University Graduate School. In 1961, Mr. Guenther enlisted in the United States Army Reserves, where he would serve until 1966 when he was honorably discharged.
Between 1960 and 1965, Mr. Guenther worked with the United States Department of Commerce as an economist and international economist. He entered the United States Foreign Service in 1966, serving in Santiago, Chile, for two years before continuing his career in Washington, D.C. Guenther was selected to help staff out President Lyndon B. Johnson's attendance at the Conference of American Presidents in Punte del Este, Uruguay in l967. Mr. Guenther was named as the special assistant to United States Senator Jacob Javits in 1969, a position he considers to be one of the highlights of his career. Drawing upon a deep well of field knowledge in international relations and global economics, he subsequently became the alternate U.S. executive director of the Inter-American Development Bank and briefly served as the White House Acting Deputy Special Trade Representative before settling into a role as the assistant to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 1975. Guenther was privileged to work with three different FED Chairman: Chairman Arthur F. Burns, a most distinguished Republican economist; Chairman G. William Miller, a Carter-Mondale appointee with remarkable legislative talents and the legendary Chairman Paul A. Volcker whose monetary policies broke the back of a most stubborn inflation. Having left the Fed Guenther was invited back to play tennis with his fourth FED Chairman Alan Greenspan. Suffice it to say that Greenspan had a very wicked slice which made him very difficult to beat.
Mr. Guenther began working with the Independent Community Bankers of America, a membership and advocacy organization representing local banks, in December 1979 when the Congress had adjourned. Initially an associate director, he rose to the position of an executive director in 1982 and executive vice president and director in 1985, a position he would fill until 2001. He also served as a Board member of the for-profit subsidiaries established during his watch like the ICBA Bancard and the ICBA Mortgage Corporation.
He served as the president and CEO of Independent Community Bankers of America between 2001 and 2004, whereupon he departed to establish a private consulting practice that would attract a portfolio of high profile clients in politics and finance including serving on the Boards of Certegy, Inc. and Clark Consulting, Inc. He has held leadership and advisory roles for the Homeownership Alliance, the United States Mint's Golden Dollar project and the United States Small Business Administration, among many others. Mr. Guenther's work was crucial in the passage of several major pieces of legislation that would come to shape the international trade climate including President Gerald Ford's Trade Reform Act of 1974, and its Jackson-Vanik Amendment, and the 1980 Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act. He staffed out Senator Javits legislation creating the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an insurance program encouraging American firms to invest overseas. President Nixon and his then NSA advisor Henry Kissinger strongly encouraged this Javits initiative.
In recognition of his career record of service, Mr. Guenther has been the recipient of such accolades as a Presidential pen awarded by President Carter for his work on the Depository Institutions Deregulation Act of 1980 (DIDMCA) an initiative strongly supported by then FED Chairman Paul Volcker and then Treasury Secretary Bill Miller, a Special Achievement Award from The United States Federal Reserve System and participation in The Federal Reserve's 2019 historic oral history program, an Electronic Funds Transfer Achievement Award from the United States Department of the Treasury and a 2004 American Banker Lifetime Achievement Award. As a commitment to his career, he has also been a member of several pertinent organizations, including as a board member of Social Compact, the Russian American Bankers Forum and the Community Bankers Service Association. He retired from consulting in 2012, and remains active in the Kenwood Country Club, and the Association of Retired Diplomatic and Consular Officers. In his retirement, Mr. Guenther enjoys outdoor activities, such as swimming, golfing, hiking and tennis.
For more information, visit https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/35310
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