John W. Snow Biography

John William Snow was the 73rd United States Secretary of the Treasury and a former CEO of CSX Corporation, a Forbes 500 company. He is currently Director of the Boards of many companies. Born into a middleclass American family, he acquired double doctorates and took up teaching posts at University of Maryland and George Washington University Law School. He gave up his teaching career to take up public service on a full-time basis. He became the Deputy Undersecretary in the Department of Transportation, which helped him when he temporarily left public service, during Jimmy Carter’s Presidency, to become Vice President Governmental Affairs for Chessie System. Chessie System was a railroad company, which after some mergers became CSX Corporation. He headed CSX Corporation's holding division as its President, CEO and Chairman. He left the company when President George W. Bush appointed him Secretary of the Treasury in his Administration. He had the task of defending the government's monetary policy of not intervening in the international currency market, while the government asserted that the dollar was strong. He resigned after some discrepancies in his tax payments surfaced. His most important contributions happened in the 1990s as a supporter of improved corporate governance practices and as a lobbyist for the North American Free Trade Agreement.