Robert Michael Kimmitt (born December 19, 1947) was

United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury The United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, in the United States government, advises and assists the Secretary of the Treasury in the supervision and direction of the Department of the Treasury and its activities, and succeeds the Secret ...

under

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

George W. Bush. He was nominated by President Bush on June 29, 2005. The

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

unanimously confirmed him on July 29, 2005, and he was sworn into office on August 16, 2005. Kimmitt served through the end of the Bush administration, leaving office on January 20, 2009. Kimmitt served as acting

Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

from Friday, June 30, until Monday morning, July 10, following

John W. Snow John William Snow (born August 2, 1939) is an American economist, attorney, and businessman who is the former CEO of CSX Corporation and served as the 73rd United States secretary of the treasury under U.S. President George W. Bush. He replaced ...

's resignation, but prior to

Henry Paulson Henry Merritt Paulson Jr. (born March 28, 1946) is an American banker and financier who served as the 74th United States Secretary of the Treasury from 2006 to 2009. Prior to his role in the Department of the Treasury, Paulson was the Chairman a ...

being sworn into office.

Early life and education

Robert Kimmitt, born December 19, 1947 in

Logan, Utah Logan is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The 2020 census recorded the population was 52,778. Logan is the county seat of Cache County and the principal city of the Logan metropolitan area, which includes Cache County and Franklin ...

, graduated from

Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School (also known as DJO) is a Roman Catholic college preparatory school founded in 1957 in Arlington County, Virginia. It was established by the Diocese of Richmond, but it has been under the direction of the ...

in 1965. Kimmitt graduated with distinction from the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

at West Point in 1969. He received a

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers. But while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not confer a license themselves. A legal license is gra ...

from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private research university in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll in 1789 as Georgetown College, the university has grown to comprise eleven undergraduate and graduate ...

in 1977, where he was editor in chief of ''Law & Policy in International Business''.

Military service

After being commissioned as a Regular Army officer in 1969 at West Point, Robert Kimmitt completed

field artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the early 20t ...

and

airborne Airborne or Airborn may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Airborne'' (1962 film), a 1962 American film directed by James Landis * ''Airborne'' (1993 film), a comedy–drama film * ''Airborne'' (1998 film), an action film sta ...

schools, and graduated first in his

Ranger School The United States Army Ranger School is a 62-day small unit tactics and leadership course that develops functional skills directly related to units whose mission is to engage the enemy in close combat and direct fire battles. Ranger training w ...

class. He then served a 17-month combat tour with the

173rd Airborne Brigade The 173rd Airborne Brigade ("Sky Soldiers") is an airborne infantry brigade combat team (IBCT) of the United States Army based in Vicenza, Italy. It is the United States European Command's conventional airborne strategic response force for Eu ...

in Vietnam (1970–1971), earning three

Bronze Stars The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a Combat, combat zo ...

, the

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

, the

Air Medal The Air Medal (AM) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. It was created in 1942 and is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. Criteria The Air Medal was establish ...

, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. He was subsequently assigned to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky (1972–1974), where he completed

Jumpmaster Jumpmasters are the expert paratroopers in an airborne unit who train and teach the military techniques for jumping from airplanes. They are responsible for training soldiers who enter Army Airborne School into paratroopers and managing airborne ju ...

school and qualified as a Senior Parachutist. He retired in November 2004 as a

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

in the Army Reserve.

Later career

From 1976 to 1977 and 1978 to 1983, Robert Kimmitt was a member of the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...

staff. From 1977 to 1978, he served as a law clerk to Judge Edward A. Tamm of the

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate co ...

. He served at the White House as National Security Council Executive Secretary and General Counsel from 1983 to 1985, with the rank of Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. From 1985 to 1987, Robert Kimmitt served as General Counsel to the U.S. Treasury Department, where he received the Alexander Hamilton Award, as well as the Arthur S. Flemming Award for distinguished public service. Kimmitt then left public service, and from 1987 to 1989, served as a partner in the law firm of

Sidley & Austin Sidley Austin LLP is an American multinational law firm with approximately 2,000 lawyers in 20 offices worldwide. The firm's headquarters is at One South Dearborn in Chicago's Loop. The firm specializes in a variety of areas in both litigation ...

. Kimmitt resumed his public service career in 1989, serving as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs until 1991. For his service during the Gulf Crisis and War, President George H. W. Bush presented Kimmitt with the

Presidential Citizens Medal The Presidential Citizens Medal is an award bestowed by the President of the United States. It is the second-highest civilian award in the United States and is second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Established by executive order on N ...

, the Nation's second-highest civilian award. He served from 1991 to 1993 as

United States Ambassador to Germany The United States has had diplomatic relations with the nation of Germany and its principal predecessor nation, the Kingdom of Prussia, since 1835. These relations were broken twice (1917 to 1921, and 1941 to 1955) while Germany and the United St ...

and was awarded the U.S. Defense Department Distinguished Public Service Award as well as Germany's Order of Merit. During 1997 Kimmitt was a member of the National Defense Panel. From 1998 to 2005, he was a member of the

Director of Central Intelligence The director of central intelligence (DCI) was the head of the American Central Intelligence Agency from 1946 to 2005, acting as the principal intelligence advisor to the president of the United States and the United States National Security C ...

's National Security Advisory Panel. He also served as a member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

's International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes. Kimmitt is also a recipient of the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

Director's Award. Kimmitt was a managing director of

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, ...

from 1993 to 1997. He was a partner at

Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, also known as Hale & Dorr and WilmerHale, is an international law firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. It is co-headquartered in Washington, D.C. and Boston. It was formed in 2004 thr ...

from 1997 to 2000. Kimmitt was Vice Chairman and President of

Commerce One Commerce One, Inc. was a B2B e-commerce company that used online auctions to connect business to their suppliers. At the peak of the dot-com bubble, the company had a market capitalization of $21.5 billion. The company's technologies included S ...

, a software company headquartered in the San Francisco Bay area. Robert Kimmitt was Chairman of the International Advisory Council of

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

, where he had served from July 2001 to February 2005 as Executive Vice President, Global Public Policy. From March through August 2005, he was also Senior International Counsel in the law firm of

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, also known as Hale & Dorr and WilmerHale, is an international law firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. It is co-headquartered in Washington, D.C. and Boston. It was formed in 2004 thr ...

. In May 2007, he was mentioned in media reports as among the top candidates to be named president of the

, a position ultimately filled by

Robert Zoellick Robert Bruce Zoellick (; ; born July 25, 1953) is an American public official and lawyer who was the eleventh president of the World Bank, a position he held from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2012. He was previously a managing director of Goldman Sach ...

. Kimmitt was the independent chairman of the Deloitte Center for Cross-Border Investment from 2009–2012, and currently is Senior International Counsel at the WilmerHale law firm. He has also served on many company boards such as

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

and Afinti. On March 26, 2020

announced that Robert Kimmitt has been appointed by the company's board of directors as lead independent director.

Personal life

Robert Kimmitt's father is

Joseph Stanley Kimmitt Joseph Stanley Kimmitt (April 15, 1918 – December 7, 2004) was the Secretary of the United States Senate and Secretary for the Majority from 1977 to 1981. Kimmitt also served in World War II and the Korean War as a United States Army lieutenant ...

(Stan), former Secretary of the Senate and army colonel, who died in 2004. Kimmitt's brother,

Mark Kimmitt Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt (born 21 June 1954) is the former Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, serving under George W. Bush from August 2008 to January 2009; he was the 16th person to hold the post. Prior to joini ...

is the former

Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs The Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs is a position within the U.S. Department of State that manages the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, charged with linking the Department of Defense and the Department of State ...

and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East. Kimmitt and his wife Holly Sutherland Kimmitt have two daughters, three sons, and eight grandchildren and reside in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

. He is a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is a nonprofit organization that is independent and nonpartisan. CFR is based in New York Ci ...

, the American Academy of Diplomacy, and the Trilateral Commission. He is Chairman Emeritus of the American Council on Germany and his foreign language is

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

References

External links

Bio at treas.gov
*

– Kimmitt's commentary on the 1981 " Line of Death" incident * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kimmitt, Robert M. 1947 births 21st-century American politicians Ambassadors of the United States to Germany United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War George W. Bush administration personnel George W. Bush administration cabinet members Georgetown University Law Center alumni Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Living people People from Arlington County, Virginia Politicians from Logan, Utah Presidential Citizens Medal recipients Recipients of the Air Medal Under Secretaries of State for Political Affairs United States Army generals United States Deputy Secretaries of the Treasury United States Military Academy alumni Virginia Republicans Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr partners Acting United States Secretaries of the Treasury Directors of Facebook 20th-century American diplomats