Jerome H. Powell will come to the chairman’s job at the Federal Reserve with a wide-ranging résumé. He has worked in investment banking, in law and in government as an under secretary in the Treasury Department. He would also be one of the wealthiest individuals to lead the Fed, thanks to his years in private equity.

One thing he’s missing: He would be the first Fed chief in more than four decades who did not have an economics degree.

A Washington Native Who Tried Law, Then Finance

Mr. Powell, 64, was born in Washington, the son of a lawyer, and studied politics at Princeton University. He earned a law degree from Georgetown University, where he was editor in chief of the Georgetown Law Journal.

After working a few years as a lawyer, he embarked in 1984 on a career in investment banking, starting at Dillon, Read and Company in New York.