Henry Parker Willis

Biography

Born in Weymouth, Massachusetts in 1874, Henry Parker Willis earned a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1897 before teaching political science and economics at Washington and Lee. Willis also taught at George Washington University and Columbia University and was the first Secretary of the Federal Reserve Board, from 1914-1918. He also advised the Banking and Currency and Ways and Means Committees of the U.S. House of Representatives. Later, he served as the first President of the Philippine National Bank and advised the new Irish Free State on currency matters.