Eugene A. "Gene" Ludwig (born April 11, 1946) is an American business leader and expert on banking regulation, risk management, and fiscal policy. From 1993 to 1998 he served as Comptroller of the Currency. He is the founder and former CEO and chairman of Promontory Financial Group, a risk management and regulatory compliance consulting firm. Ludwig is currently co-managing partner of the venture capital firm Canapi Ventures and the CEO of Ludwig Advisors. He is also the chairman of Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP), a non-profit economic research organization. He was also a vice chairman of Bankers Trust and Deutsche Bank. Early life Ludwig was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jacob S. and Louise Rabiner Ludwig and raised in York, Pennsylvania. His father was a doctor and his mother was a former Broadway chorus girl. Education Ludwig received a bachelor's degree from Haverford College in 1968. He studied philosophy at Oxford University. He graduated with a master's of arts degree from New College in politics and economics. He graduated from Yale Law School with a JD degree. At Yale Law School, he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal and president of Yale Legislative Services. Legal career In 1973, Ludwig was hired by the law firm of Covington and Burling and became a partner in 1981. He specialized in intellectual property law, banking, and international trade. His legal career dealt with the fight against grey market goods. Comptroller of the Currency In 1993, Ludwig became the 27th Comptroller of the Currency. Ludwig took office after the early 1990s recession had caused bank failures and created a credit crunch. During his time in office, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency took the lead in regulators’ 1993 initiatives to alleviate a lingering credit crunch by encouraging banks to increase lending. Ludwig's agency improved supervision through adoption of "supervision by risk". Ludwig led President Clinton's initiatives to reform the Community Reinvestment Act and more vigorously enforce the fair lending laws. In December 1993, Ludwig was singled out by then-Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin, who praised “his efforts to make CRA reform a reality." During five years in office, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency conducted 4,000 fair lending examinations of national banks. The agency made 25 referrals of fair lending violations to the Department of Justice and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.