James Stone (executive) explained

James M. Stone
Birth Date:12 November 1947
Birth Place:New York City
Nationality:American
Education:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Ph.D. Economics)
Harvard University (B.A.)
Known For:Insurance Commissioner of Massachusetts; Chairman, Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Party:Democratic
Spouse:Cathleen Douglas Stone
Children:2

James M. Stone (born November 12, 1947) is an American business executive. Jim Stone is the founder and CEO of Boston-based Plymouth Rock Assurance Group. Stone was a Lecturer in Economics at Harvard University in the early 1970s[1] [2] and then was the Massachusetts Commissioner of Insurance under Governor Michael Dukakis from 1975 to 1979.[1] He was appointed chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission by President Jimmy Carter, and served on the Commission until 1983.[3] He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences[4] and an Honorary Fellow of University College London.

Early life and education

James M. (Jim) Stone was born in New York City in 1947. His father was an attorney and a poet, and his mother, Babette Rosmond, was an author and also the fiction editor of Seventeen magazine.[5] His younger brother is the writer Gene Stone. Stone was educated in the public schools of Pelham, New York, and at Harvard University. In 1969, Stone received his bachelor's degree, graduating with Highest Honors in Economics, and was elected a member to Phi Beta Kappa.[6] His academic work was recognized with the Young Prize for the best undergraduate economics thesis, as well as the Goldsmith Prize for best research paper presented to the Graduate School in Economics.[1] Stone received his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard in 1973. He was appointed as a lecturer in economics by the Harvard faculty to teach courses on the economics of securities markets.[7]

Career

While teaching at Harvard, Stone consulted in the insurance industry on a part-time basis. During this period, he completed six examinations for admission to the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS), and his 1973 paper on the insurance of catastrophic risk became a standard requirement of the CAS syllabus.[8] [9]

In 1975, Stone was appointed Insurance Commissioner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts[10] [11] by Governor Michael S. Dukakis. In 1979, Stone was appointed chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) by President Jimmy Carter.[12] [13] Stone’s CFTC tenure was controversial due to his calls for tight position limits, enhanced disclosure, and high margin requirements to reduce leverage in derivative markets. The trading profession and his fellow Commissioners dismissed his assertions that the burgeoning scale of speculative derivatives could prove destabilizing for the economy as a whole. In 1983, Stone finished his term in Washington at the CFTC and returned to Boston.[3] In 1982, he founded Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation. He has been the group's CEO since its establishment.[14]

The Plymouth Rock Assurance Group operates a number of personal lines insurers, specializing in automobile and homeowners coverage in the Northeast United States.[15] [16] It manages over $2 billion in annual premiums.

Stone served on the Board of Directors of The Boston Globe Newspaper Corporation from 1998 to 2006,[15] [17] and for five years as vice chairman of GlobalPost,[18] a web-based international news service.

Authorship

Stone is the author of "One Way for Wall Street," a 1979 book on the securities industry,[3] and "Five Easy Theses: Commonsense Solutions to America's Greatest Economic Challenges" (May 2016), a Bloomberg Best Books of 2016 selection.[19] He has also authored articles on insurance, finance, and economics.[20] [21] [22]

Philanthropy

Stone served for ten years on the Board (and is now Chairman Emeritus) of Management Sciences for Health,[23] a large international humanitarian health infrastructure provider. He currently chairs the Education and Commercial Relations Committees of the Board of Directors of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a preeminent genetics and cancer research institute.[24] He is the chairman of the School on the Move prize panel, which grants a substantial monetary award each year to the most improved Boston public school.[25] He is a member of the Trust of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[26] He is also a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Investment Committee of ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize winning non-profit investigative reporting organization.[27]

Stone is the principal donor to eleven academic programs for the study of wealth and income inequality. These are located at Harvard University;[28] the Harris School of Public Policy at The University of Chicago;[29] City University of New York Graduate Center;[30] Brown University;[31] University of California, Berkeley;[32] University of Michigan; INSEAD; Paris School of Economics; University of British Columbia; University College London;[33] University of Munich. He and his wife have also established the Stone Center for Environmental Stewardship at University of California, Berkeley and the Stone Living Laboratory, which is based at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and engaged in the study of coastal sustainability in the era of climate change.[34] The Stones created and sponsor, the Museum of African-American History Stone Book Prize,[35] which awards a significant stipend each year for the best scholarly book on African American history as chosen by a distinguished panel of academic jurors.

Personal life

Stone is married to Cathleen Douglas Stone, a lawyer and environmentalist and the widow of Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. They have twin children, Curtis and Lauren Stone, born in 1995. They live in Boston.[36]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Governor Appoints Economics Lecturer To Insurance Post . The Harvard Crimson . 1 March 1975 . 29 November 2014 . Christopher B. Daly .
  2. Web site: Harvard Environmental Economics Program Awards Student Prizes for 2009-10 Academic Year . Harvard Kennedy School . 29 November 2014 .
  3. News: Business People; Futures Commissioner Plans to Resign Post . . 22 December 1982 . 29 November 2014.
  4. Web site: "American Academy of Arts and Sciences", April 2015. Accessed July 2015.
  5. News: Partners in Wonder: Women and the Birth of Science Fiction, 1926-1965 . Eric Leif Davin.
  6. Web site: Catalogue of Members . 29 November 2014.
  7. Web site: The Shape of Financial Re-Regulation . Harvard Kennedy School . 23 April 2009 . 29 November 2014 .
  8. Book: Management Report : The Massachusetts Division of Insurance from 1975 to 1978 (1978) . Boston : Division of Insurance, Commonwealth of Massachusetts . 24 February 2014 . 1978 .
  9. Web site: From the President . The Actuarial Review . May 1979 . 24 February 2014.
  10. News: A New Voice Is Heard By Insurance Industry: Insurance Industry in Massachusetts Is Hearing Youthful, Vocal Critic. John F. Berry . . 26 June 1977.
  11. Web site: State insurance commish puts premium on fairness . Baystate . 26 July 2007 . 24 February 2014 . Dan Devine.
  12. Web site: Commodity Futures Trading Commission Nomination of James M. Stone To Be Chairman . The American Presidency Project . 15 January 1979 . 24 February 2015.
  13. Web site: Chicago's decade of innovation: 1972-1982 . World Federation of Exchanges . 24 February 2014 . Hal Weitzman.
  14. News: From Commodity Futures to Insurance . Jerry Knight . Pete Earley. . 22 December 1982.
  15. News: Two groups enter bids for Globe . . 19 April 2013 . 24 February 2014 . Beth Healy.
  16. Web site: Who We Are Plymouth Rock Leading Insurance Provider. www.plymouthrock.com. 2019-08-06.
  17. Web site: Business & Government Seminar Series . 24 February 2014.
  18. Web site: Board of Directors . . 24 February 2015.
  19. The New York Times Bestseller List Hardcover Nonfiction May 22, 2016 and The Best Books of 2016, Bloomberg.
  20. News: Stone, James M. . 1978 . Excerpt from the Opinion, Findings and Decision on 1978 Automobile Insurance Rates . 144–205 . Automobile Insurance Risk Classification: Equity & Accuracy, Massachusetts Division of Insurance.
  21. News: 4 July 2012 . A Simple Remedy for Wall Street Danger . . 30 January 2015.
  22. News: James M. Stone . 5 February 2009 . A new rulebook for financial regulations . Boston.com . 30 January 2015.
  23. Web site: Board and Team . 30 January 2015 . Management Sciences for Health.
  24. Web site: Leadership . 30 January 2015 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20170405094711/http://www.cshl.edu/About-Us/Leadership.html . 5 April 2017 . dead .
  25. Web site: 2013 School on the Move Prize Presentation . 30 January 2015 . Edvestors.
  26. Web site: Governance Committees - American Academy of Arts & Sciences. www.amacad.org. American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
  27. Web site: Board and Advisors. 19 June 2017.
  28. Web site: Stone PhD Scholar Fellowships .
  29. Web site: Stone Center at Harris School of Public Policy .
  30. Web site: Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality .
  31. Web site: Related Centers and Projects at Brown | Stone - Inequality | Brown University .
  32. Web site: Generous support from the James M. And Cathleen D. Stone Foundation establishes a new center for Wealth and Income Inequality at UC Berkeley . 2 October 2019 .
  33. Web site: Stone Econ at UCL.
  34. Web site: Stone Living Lab.
  35. Web site: MAAH Stone Book Award.
  36. Web site: Board of Directors . Global Post . 30 January 2015 .