Former American Express CEO Ken Chenault has emerged as a leading candidate for jobs in a Kamala Harris administration, including Treasury secretary, people familiar with the matter said. A significant but low-key Democratic donor who has known Harris for years, Chenault ran Amex for nearly two decades before retiring in 2018 as one of the only Black CEOs of a major company. He has donated more than $100,000 to a PAC associated with the Biden-Harris campaign, federal records show, and was among the dozens of business executives who endorsed Harris last week. His speech at the Democratic National Convention pitched Harris to the business community as predictable and calm, a contrast to the the chaos around Donald Trump: “Business requires stability and certainty,” he said. Chenault sits on the boards of Airbnb and Berkshire Hathaway and was a member of Barack Obama’s economic advisory board. “Ken is one of the most well-respected business leaders whether you are right, left or center,” Robert Wolf, a Harris surrogate and former UBS executive, said in an interview. “Few people in industry have his experience on the global stage.” Chenault and the Harris campaign didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Chenault would be an envoy to a corporate class that’s been largely shut out of power since the mid-2000s. His roles at Airbnb and General Catalyst make him an olive branch to a Silicon Valley set that has turned on Democrats. His tenure at Amex was mostly scandal-free, rare among crisis-era Wall Street CEOs, and he’s probably confirmable even in a Republican Senate. He would also be the first Black Treasury secretary — though so would Wally Adeyemo, Janet Yellen’s 43-year-old current deputy. | 
