Paul Volcker, a former chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board, delivered the inaugural Marjorie Deane lecture on April 23rd 2014. The event, which was a great success, took place on the New York University (NYU) campus at the President’s Penthouse, which overlooks Washington Square Park.

The evening was attended by current and incoming students of NYU’s Business and Economic Reporting Program, as well as by faculty, alumni and several trustees of the Foundation. The emphasis was on the students, who spent time privately with Mr Volcker at the start of the evening in a 45-minute question-and-answer session about economic policy and the financial crisis. During the dinner that followed, the students had the opportunity to talk and network with other guests.

The evening concluded with a public Q&A session with Mr Volcker, which was moderated by one of the Foundation’s trustees, Rupert Pennant-Rea, and Stephen Solomon, the Marjorie Deane Professor of Financial Journalism at NYU. During the wide-ranging conversation, which touched on everything from the Volcker Rule to the state of the world economy, the former chairman of the Fed spoke warmly about his meetings with Marjorie Deane when she was a journalist covering international finance.

Prior to the evening event, the Foundation trustees on the trip to New York visited NYU’s Journalism Institute where they held an informal meeting with students and faculty. They were delighted to learn that all of the students were confident of finding employment in business and financial journalism when they graduate. The students also expressed enthusiasm for the summer school exchange program that the Foundation is helping to support.