Jelena McWilliams (; born July 29, 1973) is a Serbian-American business executive and a former Chairman of the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is one of two agencies that supply deposit insurance to depositors in American depository institutions, the other being the National Credit Union Administration, which regulates and insures cred ...
. She was nominated to the position and to the FDIC Board of Directors by President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
, and the Senate confirmed her appointment on May 24, 2018. She was sworn in as Chairman on June 5, 2018. Previously, McWilliams was executive vice president and chief legal officer of
Fifth Third Bank
Fifth Third Bank (5/3 Bank), the principal subsidiary of Fifth Third Bancorp is an American bank holding company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Fifth Third is one of the largest consumer banks in the Midwestern United States, Fifth Third ...
in
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
. She resigned from her position as Chairman of the Board of the FDIC on February 4, 2022.
Early life and education
Born Jelena Obrenić ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Обренић) in
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
,
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
, in the former
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
, McWilliams traveled to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
at age 18 as part of a high-school exchange program. She attended the
University of California at Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
for college. She funded her education by working a series of minimum-wage jobs. She wrote her thesis on the war in her native Yugoslavia.
[Rexrode, Christine, and Ryan Tracy]
"From Belgrade to the Pinnacle of Washington’s Banking World"
, ''The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', December 8, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2017. McWilliams graduated with highest honors with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in political science and went on to earn her law degree from the
UC Berkeley School of Law
The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (commonly known as Berkeley Law or UC Berkeley School of Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. It is one of 1 ...
.
["President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Jelena McWilliams of Ohio to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation"]
The White House Office of the Press Secretary, November 30, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
Career
McWilliams began practicing law working with tech firms at
Morrison & Foerster[ LLP in ]Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...
and then moved to Hogan & Hartson LLP, now Hogan Lovells
Hogan Lovells is an American-British law firm co-headquartered in London and Washington, DC. The firm was formed in 2010 by the merger of the American law firm Hogan & Hartson and the British law firm Lovells. It employs about 2,400 lawyers a ...
LLP, in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
[
From 2007 to 2010, McWilliams worked as a lawyer at the ]Federal Reserve Board of Governors
The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, commonly known as the Federal Reserve Board, is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It is charged with overseeing the Federal Reserve Banks and with helping implement the mon ...
,[ where she focused on a proposal for rules meant to make it easier for consumers to dispute mistakes on their credit reports and to understand their mortgages.][
McWilliams worked in the ]United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
for six years, first as assistant chief counsel for the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and then as chief counsel and deputy staff director for the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.[ At the banking committee, McWilliams worked with chairpersons Senator Richard Shelby ( R, ]Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
) and Senator Mike Crapo
Michael Dean Crapo ( ; born May 20, 1951) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Idaho, a seat he has held since 1999. A member of the Republican Party, Crapo previously served as the U.S. repres ...
(R, Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
) on, among other issues, the implementation of and efforts to rework or repeal the 2010 Dodd-Frank banking-regulation reform act.[
McWilliams served as executive vice president, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary for Fifth Third from January 2017 until May 2018.]["President Trump Will Choose Jelena McWilliams to Lead the FDIC"]
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
via Fortune
Fortune may refer to:
General
* Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck
* Luck
* Wealth
* Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling
* Fortune, in a fortune cookie
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
, November 30, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
Chairman of the FDIC
On November 30, 2017, the White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
press secretary issued a release announcing the President's intention to nominate McWilliams to serve as chairperson of the FDIC.[ McWilliams had been under consideration for the appointment since July 2017, when James Clinger withdrew his nomination for the position.
By year-end 2017, Fifth Third determined that if McWilliams were confirmed as FDIC head, it would not move to have her return the $300,000 signing bonus the bank had paid her when she joined its staff.
Before McWilliams' confirmation, ''The Wall Street Journal'' previewed the proposed change in leadership at the FDIC, along with changes at the ]Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...
and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is an independent bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury that was established by the National Currency Act of 1863 and serves to charter, regulate, and supervise all nation ...
, saying banks "can expect to see significant further relief" from postcrisis
A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...
rules under the new leadership.
In that context, the article referenced Dodd-Frank, The Volcker Rule, the Community Reinvestment Act
The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA, P.L. 95-128, 91 Stat. 1147, title VIII of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1977, ''et seq.'') is a United States federal law designed to encourage commercial banks and savings associations to hel ...
, small-dollar loans ("Trump officials have said they want to encourage banks to offer loan products that compete" with payday lenders
A payday loan (also called a payday advance, salary loan, payroll loan, small dollar loan, short term, or cash advance loan) is a short-term unsecured loan, often characterized by high interest rates.
The term "payday" in payday loan refers to ...
), new banks (from 237 new banks approved by the FDIC in 2005, two were approved in 2016 and seven in 2017; "McWilliams has said she wants to speed up new-bank approvals"), fintech
Fintech, a portmanteau of "financial technology", refers to firms using new technology to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services. Artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and big data are r ...
,
leveraged lending (loans to heavily in debt
Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...
ed companies), cybersecurity
Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...
("McWilliams cited cybersecurity as one of her priorities during her Senate testimony"), and capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
, liquidity
Liquidity is a concept in economics involving the convertibility of assets and obligations. It can include:
* Market liquidity, the ease with which an asset can be sold
* Accounting liquidity, the ability to meet cash obligations when due
* Liqui ...
and overall and supplementary leverage rules.
In December 2021, McWilliams announced her resignation, effective February 4, 2022, from the FDIC. Following the election of President Joe Biden, Democrats controlled all the seats on the FDIC except for the one she held. She resigned after expressing her frustrations in an essay published in the ''Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' with what she called the erosion of agency norms at the FDIC and a "hostile takeover" by the other directors. Part of her resignation letter stated, ''"Of the 20 chairmen who preceded me at the FDIC, nine faced a majority of the board members from the opposing party, including Mr. Gruenberg as chairman under President Trump until I replaced him as chairman in 2018. Never before has a majority of the board attempted to circumvent the chairman to pursue their own agenda."''
Personal life
McWilliams, who is a single mother, has one daughter. She moved her parents from Yugoslavia to the United States after saving enough money to do so.[
]
References
External links
FDIC profile
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:McWilliams, Jelena
1973 births
Living people
21st-century American women
American business executives
American people of Serbian descent
American women in business
Chairs of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
People associated with Hogan Lovells
People associated with Morrison & Foerster
Trump administration personnel
UC Berkeley School of Law alumni
University of California, Berkeley alumni
Yugoslav emigrants to the United States
People with acquired American citizenship