John S. Reed is known for such banking innovations as the national marketing of credit cards, disseminating ATMs worldwide, and extending Citibank's credit card and consumer banking expertise to emerging Asian and Latin American markets. He served with Citicorp and its descendants for more than three decades. He then stepped in as leader of the New York Stock Exchange after the compensation scandals during predecessor Richard Grasso's tenure, establishing new governance rules as the NYSE became a public corporation. He is currently a member of the MIT Corporation, and is on the board of directors at Altria Group.

Reed earned his undergraduate degrees from Washington and Jefferson College and MIT. Reed served in the U.S. Army, then earned his master's degree in management from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1965.