Secretary of the Treasury
Scott K. H. Bessent is the 79th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States.
In this role, Mr. Bessent is responsible for the U.S. Treasury’s mission to promote a strong, stable, and prosperous economy while safeguarding the nation’s financial system and national security.
Over a career spanning more than 40 years in global investment management, Mr. Bessent has engaged with international leaders and central bankers across at least 60 countries. He is widely regarded as a specialist in currencies and fixed-income markets, and frequently contributes to economic journals and business publications.
Since 1985, Mr. Bessent has been considered a leading buy-side analyst and investor in the banking, insurance and specialty finance sectors. Over the course of his career, he correctly anticipated several major global financial dislocations, including the U.S. savings and loan crisis, periods of distress in the junk bond market, the near-collapse of the Scandinavian banking system—where he later helped with restructuring—the reorganization of the Japanese banking sector, and the global financial crisis.
Previously, Mr. Bessent served as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Key Square Capital Management, a global macro hedge fund he founded in 2015. Prior to that, he was Chief Investment Officer of Soros Fund Management and, from 1991 to 2000, served as Managing Partner of the firm’s London office. Mr. Bessent’s legendary bet against the British pound and later the Japanese yen solidified his reputation as one of the world's leading macro-strategists.
Mr. Bessent earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University, where he would later teach economic history as an adjunct professor. He comes from a multigenerational South Carolina family engaged in agriculture, publishing, and hospitality. Mr. Bessent is a member of the French Huguenot Church in Charleston, which his family helped found in the 1680s.
In addition to his professional work, Mr. Bessent has been deeply involved in philanthropy and civic life, including as a long-time advocate, supporter, and mentor of financial literacy and education programs. His family has endowed three named scholarships for Yale college students and the H. G. Bessent Library at Yale University. He is a member of the Economic Club of New York and Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Bessent has served as a Trustee of Rockefeller University, where he was a member of the Executive Committee and Chair of the Investment Committee, and has also supported the Harlem Children’s Zone in New York City. With his family, he established the McLeod Rehabilitation Center at Shriners Children’s Hospital in Greenville, South Carolina.