UNC–Chapel Hill has presented Peter Henry ’91 with the Distinguished Alumnus Award, recognizing him for his notable work in the fields of international financial markets and international macroeconomy.
“While I’m thrilled and honored to receive this award from the University,” Peter said, “it was the Morehead-Cain that really opened the door to the extraordinary set of opportunities I’ve had to make a contribution to higher education and the field of economics.”
Peter is dean emeritus of New York University’s Stern School of Business, where he holds the William R. Berkley Professorship of Economics and Finance. He formerly worked as the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of International Economics at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Peter is the author of Turnaround: Third World Lessons for First World Growth.
In 2008, Peter led Barack Obama’s Presidential Transition Team in its review of international lending agencies such as the IMF and World Bank. A member of the board of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and the Economic Club of New York, Peter also serves on the boards of Citigroup and Nike. In 2015, he received the Foreign Policy Association Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the organization.
A native of Jamaica who became a U.S. citizen in 1986, Peter was honored in 2016 as one of the Carnegie Foundation’s Great Immigrants.
In addition to his B.A. from Carolina, he also holds a B.A. in mathematics from Oxford University—where he was a Rhodes Scholar—and a Ph.D. in economics from MIT.