Adewale “Wally” Adeyemo was nominated by Biden for the Deputy Treasury Secretary position and if confirmed, he will be the first Black person to hold that title . The Nigerian-born global economic governance expert currently serves as the president of the Obama Foundation and also served as Deputy National Security Advisor and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council during the Obama administration.
Adeyemo was raised outside of Los Angeles, California, and graduated from University of California, Berkeley before attending Yale Law School. Under President Obama, he was responsible for coordinating the policymaking process on international finance and trade as well as investment, energy, and environmental issues. He was the first chief of staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and senior advisor and deputy chief of staff at the Department of the Treasury. Adeyemo is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group, the policy program of the Aspen Institute, a non-partisan think tank. He will serve under Janet Yellen, who has been selected to become the first female Treasury Secretary.
When appointed by former President Obama to lead the Obama Foundation, Adeyemo said he looked forward “to working with the talented staff of the Foundation to build an organization devoted to supporting the work of change makers — whether in Chicago or around the world.” During Adeyemo’s time as president of the Foundation, the nonprofit organization launched a Civil Action Recognition Award to honor students, educators, and community partners making an impact through civic engagement. Adeyemo was also awarded $5,000,000 from the MacArthur Foundation to construct a branch of the Chicago Public Library within the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.
