The tension between centrality, on the one hand, and competition, on the other, is probably the oldest of all market structure issues.

Levitt graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Williams College in 1952 before serving for two years in the Air Force. Levitt serves on the Board of Directors for RiskMetrics Group. In 1963 Levitt joined the relatively young brokerage firm Carter Berlind & Weill founded just three years earlier by Sanford I.

Levitt also serves as a policy advisor to Goldman Sachs and as a Director of Bloomberg LP parent of Bloomberg News. Arthur Levitt Jr.