Timothy Franz Geithner, born on August 18, 1961, in New York City, spent much of his childhood abroad due to his father Peter Franz Geithner's work with the Ford Foundation in Asia and Africa, living in countries including Zimbabwe, Zambia, India, and Thailand, where he completed high school at the International School Bangkok. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1983 with an A.B. in Government and Asian Studies, following in the footsteps of his father, paternal grandfather, and uncle. Geithner then earned an M.A. in international economics and East Asian studies from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in 1985. He has studied Mandarin Chinese at Peking University in 1981 and Beijing Normal University in 1982, as well as Japanese.

Geithner began his career at the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 1988, serving in various roles across three administrations, including as Under Secretary for International Affairs from 1998 to 2001 under Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama. From 2001 to 2003, he directed the Policy Development and Review Department at the International Monetary Fund, contributing to bailout plans for economies like Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, and South Korea. He served as President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2003 to 2009, playing a pivotal role in the response to the 2008 financial crisis, including involvement in the Lehman Brothers failure, AIG bailout, and conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Nominated by President Barack Obama, he became the 75th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from January 2009 to January 2013, architecting strategies to stabilize the economy and reform financial regulation, including the government's response to the 2008 financial crisis.

Since March 2014, Geithner has served as President and Chairman of Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm in New York City. He chairs the Program on Financial Stability at Yale School of Management, where he is a visiting lecturer, and holds positions such as Trustee of the Ford Foundation, member of the International Rescue Committee Board of Advisors, and Co-Chair of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group. Geithner authored 'Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises' and co-authored works on the financial crisis.