Jim Himes represents Connecticut’s 4th District in the United States House of Representatives where he is serving his seventh term. He serves as the Chair of the National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee.
Born in Lima, Peru in 1966 to American parents, he spent the early years of his childhood in Peru and Colombia while his father worked for the Ford Foundation and UNICEF. As an American abroad, Jim grew up fluent in both Spanish and English and was raised with an awareness of the unique position of the United States in the world. At the age of ten, he moved with his mother and sisters to the United States.
Jim graduated from Hopewell Valley Central High School and then attended Harvard University. After completing his undergraduate work, he earned a Rhodes Scholarship and attended Oxford University in England, where he continued his studies of Latin America, including research in El Salvador. He began his professional career at Goldman Sachs & Co. and worked his way up to Vice President over the course of a 12-year career. There he worked extensively in Latin America and headed the bank’s telecommunications technology group.
Prior to his service in Congress, Jim ran the New York City branch of The Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit dedicated to addressing the unique challenges of urban poverty. His team led the way in financing the construction of thousands of affordable housing units in the greater New York metropolitan region. Jim’s experience at Enterprise spurred his involvement in politics. Putting his expertise in affordable housing to work, he served as a Commissioner of the Greenwich Housing Authority, ultimately chairing the board and leading it through a much-needed program of reforms. Jim went on to become an elected member of his town’s finance board, setting tax and budget policy for Greenwich. He has also served as Chair of his local Democratic Town Committee, organizing others in the community to become more active in the political process.
Jim lives in Greenwich with his wife Mary (and not frequent enough visits from his daughters Emma and Linley).
Arranged by Bryan Hooper
Bryan’s notes on the talk:
Congressman Jim Himes demonstrated why he is currently serving his seventh term representing Connecticut’s Fourth District in the US House of Representatives, revealing his thoughtfulness, openness to a wide range of viewpoints, and a commitment to fiscal responsibility. He opened his session with a realistic overview of the current political scene, which he described as one of an electorate angry and resentful at the dislocation caused by de-industrialization, and the attendant loss of well-paid manufacturing jobs. This in turn has led to an increasingly polarized society in terms of wealth distribution, with blame assigned to various causes and resulting in an ultra-partisan population. The Congressman made no pretense at omniscience in terms of solutions, but asserted that the Biden administration was on the path to unifying the country by focusing on investment in infrastructure and growing the economy. He answered a diverse range of questions from across the political spectrum and was impressive in his handling of subjects, such as immigration, where the intensity of feeling was apparent from some of the audience. His approach was pragmatic and nuanced, and he stressed that there are no easy answers to most of the problems we face as a nation.
Few of our speakers deal with as many as twelve questioners, and in the video of the session you can view his responses: https://youtu.be/XHiF5ST8MMU.