Who

One of the most prominent players in New York and Washington on the nexus between politics and business, Jordan is currently a senior managing director at the investment bank Lazard.

Backstory

An Atlanta native, Jordan attended DePauw and spent his summers working odd jobs for Atlanta mayor Robert Maddox before heading off to law school at Howard. He started his career in 1960 working for the noted Atlanta civil rights attorney Donald Hollowell, and later plunged into the civil rights movement himself, taking on progressively higher positions within the NAACP, the Southern Regional Council, the Voter Education Project, and the Urban Negro College Fund. By 1972, he'd become president of the National Urban League. But an attempt on Jordan's life in 1980 (see below) convinced him to head off to the considerably safer confines of corporate law, and he joined the D.C. office of Akin, Gump, advising a long list of corporations and forging deep ties to the political establishment.

Jordan's connection to Bill Clinton clinched his status as powerbroker extraordinaire: Jordan started advising Clinton when he was Governor of Arkansas, then helped plug the outsider into his vast network of business leaders when Clinton ran for president, and served as chief of his transition team following his victory. A consummate corporate insider—over the years he's served on the boards of American Express, Xerox, Dow Jones, Revlon, and Nabisco—these days Jordan is senior managing director and board member at Lazard, where he ropes in new business thanks to his massive Rolodex. He also serves as counsel to Akin, Gump.

Drama

Jordan became a household name during the Monica Lewinsky scandal when it was revealed that President Clinton's personal secretary, Betty Currie, had asked Jordan to help Lewinsky find a job in New York, allegedly as part of an effort to keep her silent. Jordan telephoned Revlon chief Ron Perelman—Jordan was on the board of the beauty company at the time—and arranged a $40,000-a-year position for Lewinsky. (When news of the scandal broke, the offer was rescinded.) Linda Tripp also recorded Lewinsky claiming that Jordan had encouraged her to lie under oath to protect Clinton; Jordan denied the charge but was forced to testify in front of a grand jury on five separate occasions.

Close call

On May 29, 1980, when Jordan was head of the Urban League, a white supremacist named Joseph Paul Franklin made an attempt on his life outside of a Fort Wayne, Indiana hotel. He was shot in the back, but survived. Franklin was acquitted of the crime, although a decade later he admitted that he'd pulled the trigger.

In print

Jordan's is the author of Vernon Can Read! A Memoir, co-written with Annette Gordon-Reed in 2001.

Personal

Jordan's first wife, Shirley, passed away from complications from multiple sclerosis in 1985. He's now married to Ann Dibble Jordan and they have four children between them. Jordan divides his time between an apartment at 1170 Fifth Avenue and a home in Washington, D.C. When he's not working or entertaining, he's often out on the golf course. One regular golfing buddy: Bill Clinton, who remains a close friend.