Who: CEO of Goldman Sachs

Degrees: A.B. ’75, J.D. ’78

House: Winthrop

Hometown: Bronx, N.Y.

Current Residence: Manhattan

Spotlight: Blankfein was recently named CEO of Goldman Sachs, replacing fellow Harvard grad Hank Paulson, M.B.A. ’70, who was nominated to succeed John Snow as secretary of the U.S. Treasury. Colleagues agree that Blankfein, who started his career as a gold salesman and built Goldman’s trading operations into 80% of its business, is far from the “typical Wall Street starched shirt.” The first member of his family to attend college, Blankfein is humble, down-to-earth, and an unconventional thinker—in other words, an utter anomaly in the finance world.

Three Words or Less: “Bald, smart, and short” is how a fellow banker described Blankfein to the Times of London–speaking anonymously, of course. Another high-finance peer dubbed the widely admired money-maker “sun god.”

Friends: The Goldman big shots, who, in a major vote of confidence for Blankfein, decided not to split the responsibilities of the CEO position upon Paulson’s departure. They’re not the only Wall Street insiders who fancy Blankfein: Jim Cramer, A.B. ’77, once called him a “nebbishy guy, rough-hewn, not a diplomat”–which, in the Mad Money host’s skewed universe, is probably a compliment.

Family: Think Horatio Alger: Blankfein’s father sorted mail for a living, and his mother was a receptionist. Raised in Brooklyn public housing and educated at the rough-and-tumble Thomas Jefferson High, Blankfein managed to put himself through Harvard—with the help of the university’s largesse. He now serves as the co-chair of Harvard’s financial-aid task force.

Progeny: Blankfein’s $38 million salary means his two sons, both Harvard undergrads, don’t have to worry about getting red-dotted at registration. Even so, they may not stay around for long: Blankfein told the Financial Times that, after reading Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat, he “want[s] to take [his] kids out of school (in the US) and put them into school in China or India.”

Golf Handicap: An embarrassing 32.1, according to GHIN.com, a service of the United States Golf Association.

Early Heartbreak: The first time Blankfein interviewed with Goldman in the early ’80s, the company rejected him. Maybe that’s why he recently told Fortune, “If I weren’t afraid to assert anything with any kind of confidence, I would tell you that I’m the most insecure person in the world.”

Playing Politics: In the 2004 presidential election cycle, he gave $12,000 to the Kerry campaign and, for good measure, $1,000 to the Gephardt campaign, according to PoliticalMoneyLine. His wife, Laura, chipped in $1,000 for Wesley Clark and $2,000 for Joe Lieberman. Nothing for Kucinich, though: even Wall Street risk-takers have their limits.

Tongue-Tied: “One day you’ll hit yourself on the forehead and say, ‘Why didn’t I see it that way?’ You won’t be able to imagine not having seen it, except that you’ll remember not having seen it.” —Blankfein, um, “explains” the difficulties of gaining insight into the market.