Marisa Lago (born December 4, 1955) is an American attorney serving as the

Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade : The International Trade Administration (ITA) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that promotes United States exports of nonagricultural U.S. services and goods. Duties The ITA's stated goals are to # Provide practical info ...

. She previously served as director of the

New York City Department of City Planning The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, p ...

and chair of the City Planning Commission from 2017 to 2021. Before that, Lago served as assistant secretary for international markets and development in the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

from 2010 to 2017, and as president and chief executive officer of the

Empire State Development Corporation Empire State Development (ESD) is the umbrella organization for New York's two principal economic development public-benefit corporations, the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the New York Job Development Authority (JDA). T ...

from 2008 to 2009.

Early life and education

Born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, Lago is a 1973 graduate of

Morris Catholic High School Morris Catholic High School is a four-year comprehensive Roman Catholic regional high school located in Denville Township, in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. It was founded in 1957 and is part of the Diocese of Paterson. Morris Cat ...

Denville Township, New Jersey Denville Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, New Jersey, located west of Manhattan. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 16,635, reflecting ...

. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

in 1977 and then studied applied mathematics at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

for one semester. Lago earned a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1982.

Career

After completing law school, Lago spent one year as a law clerk for U.S. Circuit Judge

Hugh H. Bownes Hugh Henry Bownes (March 10, 1920 – November 5, 2003) was an American federal judge who served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, after previously serving as a United States District J ...

Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third largest city in New Hampshire behind Manchester and Nashua. The village of ...

. From February 1994 to January 1997, Lago served as director and chief economic development officer for the

Boston Redevelopment Authority The Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA), formerly the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), is a Massachusetts public agency that serves as the municipal planning and development agency for Boston, working on both housing and commercial de ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. In August 2008, Lago was nominated by

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

governor

David Paterson David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to December 2010. A ...

to serve as president and CEO of the

. After confirmation by the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

, she served until June 2009 and then continued to work as an advisor to the corporation until joining the Obama administration in February 2010. In September 2009, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

nominated Lago to serve as assistant secretary for international markets and development. She appeared before the

Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs The United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (formerly the Committee on Banking and Currency), also known as the Senate Banking Committee, has jurisdiction over matters related to banks and banking, price controls, d ...

in November 2009 and was confirmed by voice vote of the full Senate in February 2010. After the resignation of James LaGarde Hudson, Lago also served as acting U.S. director of the

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies. Initially focus ...

from December 2013 until the confirmation of Scott Ames Allen in November 2015. In November 2014, President Obama nominated Lago to be a deputy trade representative with the rank of ambassador and nominated

Wally Adeyemo Adewale "Wally" Adeyemo (born May 20, 1981) is a Nigerian-American government official serving as the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, United States deputy secretary of the treasury. He was the first president of the Obama Foundation and also se ...

to replace her as assistant secretary of the treasury. She appeared before the

Senate Committee on Finance The United States Senate Committee on Finance (or, less formally, Senate Finance Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate. The Committee concerns itself with matters relating to taxation and other revenue measures generall ...

in July 2015 and the committee advanced her nomination to the full Senate in August. Adeyemo's nomination was withdrawn in December 2015 and no further action was taken on Lago's nomination before the end of the Obama administration in January 2017. In January 2017,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

mayor

Bill de Blasio Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who served as the 109th mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he held the office of New Yor ...

announced that Lago would succeed

Carl Weisbrod Carl Weisbrod is an American public sector executive and urban development expert. He is currently a senior advisor to HR&A Advisors and a Senior Fellow at the New York University Marron Institute of Urban Management. Weisbrod most recently serv ...

as director of the Department of City Planning and chair of the City Planning Commission. In September 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Lago to be the next

under secretary of commerce for international trade : The International Trade Administration (ITA) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that promotes United States exports of nonagricultural U.S. services and goods. Duties The ITA's stated goals are to # Provide practical info ...

. 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 ...

confirmed her on December 16, 2021, by voice vote, and she was sworn in on December 28, 2021. Lago was part of a Biden administration effort in April 2022 to help repair the United States' "strained relations" with

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, ''Axios'' reported. Lago traveled to Turkey to promote clean energy efforts in the region.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lago, Marisa 1955 births Living people People from Brooklyn Cooper Union alumni Harvard Law School alumni New York (state) Democrats Obama administration personnel Biden administration personnel United States Assistant Secretaries of the Treasury Under Secretaries of Commerce for International Trade