For Dan Renberg '86, it's not always easy to keep up with his Princeton classmates. Even after he was appointed to the board of directors of Export-Import Bank of the United States by Bill Clinton in 1999, his mother still wanted to know why Renberg had not been named 'Time' man of the year, like Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos '86.
"There's nothing quite like having the 'Time' man of the year in your class and having a Jewish mother," he said.
Magazine cover or not, people all over the world recognize Renberg's name as the head of Ex-Im Bank, an independent government agency dedicated to bringing U.S. exports to countries with weak trading histories. They do so by providing loans, guarantees and insurance that all reduce the risk for commercial banks financing the transactions.
"We offer financing to foreign buyers where commercial banks don't want to," Renberg said.
In accordance with a 1992 congressional order, Ex-Im now emphasizes the export of environmentally beneficial goods to foreign countries. These goods include wind turbines, solar panels and air pollution control monitors. The latter have been of great importance to China, Renberg said.
Next Tuesday, Renberg will speak at Princeton for the first time since graduating in 1986. His lecture will investigate Ex-Im's mission and history.
"I'm going to try to raise awareness of our sleepy 68-year-old agency," he said.
Renberg said that preparing the lecture afforded him the opportunity to learn facts about his agency's past that he had not previously known.
"I think we have a noble history and I thought this would be a unique opportunity for me to explore that," he said.
Renberg's appointment to Ex-Im Bank was the end of a long road. Having interned for a congressman during his junior year in college, he realized that in order to secure an influential government position he would have to go to law school. After majoring in politics at the University, he did just that. He received a law degree and an M.A. in American government from the University of Virginia in 1990.
His theory had been correct — with a degree in law and internship experience under his belt, Renberg found a host of jobs in both law and legislation open to him.
A law background is a great asset in any government position, Renberg said. "I think being an attorney made me a better Senate staffer."
Out of law school, Renberg first worked as an attorney with a Washington, D.C. firm where he delved into environmental, energy and transportation issues, and practiced federal election law. Before long, however, he was ready to return to politics.
"My first academic love was political science," he said.
For six years he served as legislative director and deputy chief of staff under Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA). While working for Specter, Renberg drafted legislation dealing with a variety of issues, including annual appropriations bills. He also wrote speeches, advised the senator on committee and floor votes, and managed a 13-person legislative staff. Specter, along with Trent Lott (R-MI), would later recommend Renberg to Bill Clinton for his appointment to Ex-Im.
"How odd is it that I'm a Republican appointed by a Democratic president?" he joked.
While Renberg's career in government has been one of hard work and success, he confesses that his Princeton academic career was not quite as illustrious. Urging students not to be discouraged if they are not the best at any one subject or activity, he assures them that he did not feel like he was the best at anything, either.
"I gave people A's because everything was graded on a curve," he said.
Even though Renberg has spent almost his entire career in politics, the Woodrow Wilson School did not accept Renberg when he applied to the program as a sophomore.
Despite these obstacles, Renberg remembers his Princeton experience fondly. He attributes his love for politics that has driven his career to POL 220: American Politics, a course he took at the University. He also co-chaired the Reagan-Bush '84 presidential campaign at Princeton, and joked that he would like to take credit for Reagan's landslide victory that year.
Renberg also earned the privilege of having his senior thesis, Congress in the Information Age, published. The thesis explored the minority House Republicans and the cliques and strategies all minority factions employ to sustain themselves and win sporadic victories.
Like many Princetonians, Renberg also spent some of his free time on Prospect Avenue, where he belonged to the now-defunct Elm Club. He proudly takes responsibility for bringing the first frozen margarita and daquiri machines to the 'Street.'
Renberg now looks back on a less technologically advanced campus than the one students now inhabit. With only one printing facility on campus, typing and printing papers turned into a time-consuming hassle, he said.
"At the time you were coming out of the uterus, I was waiting on line at the computer center," he said.
Renberg also witnessed the advent of the residential colleges, and can now laugh at the daily treks he made to Forbes College for meals before the Wu dining hall opened in 1982. Twenty-two inches of snow covered the campus that January, Renberg remembers.
Outside of his career, Renberg describes himself as a family man. He met his wife Roz through an old Princeton friend, though she went to the University of Michigan. The couple has three children, Aaron, six, Sarah. four, and Ruth, two. While Aaron playfully taunts his father that he will go to the University of Michigan like his mother, Renberg says his three children love wearing tiger stripes and telling their pediatricians and school friends about their dad's alma mater. In 2001, Renberg took them to his 15-year reunion, and says that Ruth and Sarah especially enjoyed their tiger costumes.
In both his personal life and his professional life, Renberg said he maintains many ties to Princeton. Several of his college friends now work in Washington, D.C.
"Washington is an exceptional opportunity for Princeton graduates. There is such a supportive network once you get here," he said.
Renberg's network of '86 friends includes Wendy Donath-Selig, who worked on Capitol Hill for 11 years before accepting a position in 2000 as managing director of federal government relations for the American Cancer Society. The two had known each other at Princeton and collaborated often while they both worked with Congress.
Another '86 classmate and friend of Renberg's currently living in Washington, D.C. is John Schacter, who recently started a humorist business specializing in political satire.
"Sixteen years out, I continue to believe that my best friends are the ones I went to college with," Renberg said.
Indeed, while Renberg may not be the 'Time' man of the year, he has certainly made his mark on Princeton, the Capitola and his friends and family.
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