Heath Tarbert

Heath P. Tarbert is President at Circle, a global fintech firm that harnesses the power of stablecoins and public blockchains for payments and commerce. He drives Circle’s vision of transforming the future of finance by leading the company’s legal, compliance, risk, policy, communications, talent operations, and international expansion strategy.

He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A., operating as Circle National Trust. Prior to joining Circle, Heath was Chief Legal Officer of Citadel Securities, where he was responsible for the firm’s global legal, compliance, surveillance, and regulatory affairs functions. Heath 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 U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC). Before the CFTC, Heath 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, Heath 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. Heath is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and the American Law Institute. He is a life member of the National Eagle Scout Association and Council on Foreign Relations. Heath 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. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Harvard-based Program on International Financial Systems and the Northwestern Memorial Foundation, the fundraising arm of Northwestern Medicine. Heath 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, the Freedom of the City of London, and the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, the highest honor of Scouting America. Heath earned his BS from Mount St. Mary’s University, his JD and SJD from the University of Pennsylvania, and his DPhil in comparative law from the University of Oxford where he was a Thouron Fellow. He is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.