Neal Steven Wolin (born December 9, 1961) is the
CEO of the corporate advisory firm Brunswick Group, an equity partner of Data Collective, a board partner of Social Capital, and a limited partner advisor of Nyca Partners. He is the longest-serving
Deputy Secretary of the
U.S. 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 ...
and also served as Acting
Secretary of the Treasury
The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...
in early 2013.
In 2009, following eight years with
The Hartford Financial Services Group, Wolin was appointed Deputy Secretary of the
U.S. 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 ...
by
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
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 ...
, where he led the U.S. government's financial reform plan during the
Great Recession
The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
, including the
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. He resigned as Deputy Secretary in August 2013.
Wolin also served during the
Clinton administration for eight years as
general counsel
A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department.
In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...
, Deputy General Counsel of the Treasury, and as a staff member of the
United States National Security Council
The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House, it is part of the Exe ...
.
Early life and education
Wolin was born and raised in
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, ...
, where he graduated from Evanston Township High School in 1979. His father, Harry S. Wolin, was a lawyer; and his mother, Doris Wolin, was a former public school teacher.
Graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in history from
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
, Wolin also served as president of the
Yale Political Union
The Yale Political Union (YPU) is a debate society at Yale University, founded in 1934 by Alfred Whitney Griswold. It was modeled on the Cambridge Union and Oxford Union and the party system of the defunct Yale Unions of the late nineteenth and ...
. He then received a M.S. in Development Economics from
Balliol College, Oxford, as a Charles and Julia Henry Fellow; and subsequently earned a J.D. from Yale University, where he was a Coker Teaching Fellow in Constitutional Law.
[US Treasury](_blank)
"Neal Wolin Deputy Secretary of the Treasury"; U.S. Department Of The Treasury; June 24, 2013.
Career
Following law school, Wolin served as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge
Eugene Nickerson
Eugene Hoffman Nickerson (August 2, 1918 – January 1, 2002) was the Democratic county executive of Nassau County, New York, from 1962 until 1970. Nickerson was the only Democrat to be elected county executive in Nassau County until 2001. Late ...
in Brooklyn,
New York, and taught as an adjunct professor of law at Brooklyn Law School. Wolin also worked at the
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, ...
law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering.
From 1990 to 1993, Wolin served as Special Assistant to three Directors of Central Intelligence:
William H. Webster
William Hedgcock Webster (born March 6, 1924) is an American attorney and jurist who most recently served as chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council from 2005 until 2020. He was a United States district judge of the United States Distr ...
,
Robert Gates
Robert Michael Gates (born September 25, 1943) is an American intelligence analyst and university president who served as the 22nd United States secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011. He was originally appointed by president George W. Bush a ...
, and
R. James Woolsey, Jr.
Clinton administration
From 1993 to 1994, Wolin served as Deputy Legal Advisor to the
National Security Council.
In 1994, Wolin became an executive assistant to
National Security Advisor A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils.
National sec ...
Anthony Lake
William Anthony Kirsopp Lake (born April 2, 1939) is an American diplomat and political advisor who served as the 17th United States National Security Advisor from 1993 to 1997 and as the 6th Executive Director of UNICEF from 2010 to 2017.
He ha ...
and Deputy National Security Advisor
Sandy Berger
Samuel Richard "Sandy" Berger (October 28, 1945 – December 2, 2015) was an attorney who served as the 18th US National Security Advisor for US President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001 after he had served as the Deputy National Security Adviso ...
.
From 1995 to 1999, he served as the Deputy General Counsel of the Department of the Treasury, under Secretary
Robert Rubin
Robert Edward Rubin (born August 29, 1938) is an American retired banking executive, lawyer, and former government official. He served as the 70th United States Secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton administration. Before his government ...
.
In November 1998, he was appointed to the President's Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States.
From September 15, 1999 to January 20, 2001, Wolin served as General Counsel of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, under Secretary
Lawrence Summers
Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist who served as the 71st United States secretary of the treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010. He also served as pres ...
.
In January 2001, Secretary Summers presented Wolin the
Alexander Hamilton Award, the highest honor awarded to a Treasury official.
In early 2001, Wolin was also visiting fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, and an adjunct assistant professor at the
Kennedy School of Government
The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
at Harvard University.
The Hartford
In March 2001, Wolin joined
The Hartford Financial Services Group as executive vice-president and
general counsel
A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department.
In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...
, overseeing the company's legal and tax departments, government affairs, communications, and marketing functions. In 2007, he succeeded David K. Zwiener as president and
COO
COO or coo may refer to:
Business
* Certificate of origin, used in international trade
* Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official
* Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process
...
of the company's property and casualty insurance subsidiaries.
Obama administration
In February 2009, shortly after
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 ...
took office, Wolin returned to Washington, D.C. as
Deputy Assistant to the President
The Executive Office of the President (EOP) comprises the offices and agencies that support the work of the president at the center of the executive branch of the United States federal government. The EOP consists of several offices and agenci ...
and Deputy Counsel to the President for Economic Policy.
In March 2009, he was nominated as Deputy Secretary of 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 ...
by President Obama, then confirmed by the senate on May 18, 2009. Wolin served as United States Acting Secretary of the Treasury from January 25 to February 28, 2013, prior to the confirmation of
Jack Lew
Jacob Joseph Lew (born August 29, 1955) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 76th United States Secretary of the Treasury from 2013 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he also served as the 25th White House Chief of S ...
, who was nominated by Obama to succeed Secretary
Timothy Geithner
Timothy Franz Geithner (; born August 18, 1961) is a former American central banker who served as the 75th United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013. He was the President of the Federal Reserve Bank o ...
.
[Biederman, Danny]
"Wolin, Neil"
'' AllGov.com''. Retrieved 01-12-18.
Wolin was a "key architect" of U.S. financial reforms during the
Great Recession
The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
, and was instrumental to the development and implementation of the
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The Act aimed to upgrade "the foundation for a stronger financial system –
closing regulatory gaps, increasing transparency for consumers, and strengthening prudential requirements,” including an annual “stress-test” by 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 ...
of the 33 banks designated as being “systemically important” to the U.S. economy.
From early 2009 until late 2013, during his tenure as Deputy Treasury Secretary, Wolin also chaired the
Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS, commonly pronounced "Cifius" ) is an inter-agency committee of the United States government that reviews the national security implications of foreign investments in U.S. compani ...
(CFIUS), which reviews, for national security reasons, any transaction that would result in a foreign entity having control over a U.S. asset.
In July 2011, Wolin was appointed to the
Government Accountability and Transparency Board.
In January 2013, Wolin was awarded a second Alexander Hamilton Award by Secretary
Timothy Geithner
Timothy Franz Geithner (; born August 18, 1961) is a former American central banker who served as the 75th United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013. He was the President of the Federal Reserve Bank o ...
.
On July 22, 2013, President Obama officially announced Wolin’s retirement as Deputy Secretary at the end of August 2013, stating that “His deep knowledge and excellent judgment helped us prevent a second
Great Depression, pass tough new
Wall Street reform, strengthen our financial system, foster growth here at home, and promote economic development around the world.”
In August 2014, he was appointed to the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, from which he later resigned on January 20, 2017.
Brunswick Group
In February 2018, Wolin was appointed as CEO of the global corporate advisory firm Brunswick Group.
Board memberships and professional affiliations
Wolin is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations, and of the
bars of Illinois, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia.
Current affiliations include:
Member, Board of Overseers, RAND Institute for Civil Justice.
Board partner,
Social Capital[''Bloomberg''](_blank)
"Company Overview of Brunswick Group LLP Neal Steven Wolin", Bloomberg Group; December 03, 2018. Retrieved 03-12-18.
Equity partner, Data Collective
Limited Partner Advisor, Nyca Partners
Board member, WAVE
Board member, SIGFIG
Board member, Appriss
Board member, Treliant
Board member, Partnership for Public Service
Board member, Atlantic Council
Advisor, Raptor Intelligence, Inc.
Advisor, Jupiter Intelligence
Advisor, Covr Advisory Board, Covr Financial Technologies, LLC
Personal life
In July 2001, he met Nicole Louise Elkon, who had also been on staff at the White House during the Clinton administration;
the couple married at the
Jewish Center of the Hamptons Gates of the Grove (''Shaarey Pardes''), the sanctuary of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons, is a synagogue designed by noted architect Norman Jaffe and built in East Hampton, New York in 1989. It has been called a masterpiece.
The cedar shingle ...
in
East Hampton, New York
The Town of East Hampton is located in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, at the eastern end of the South Shore of Long Island. It is the easternmost town in the state of New York. At the time of the 2020 United States census, it had a tot ...
.
New York Times: "WEDDINGS/CELEBRATIONS; Nicole Elkon, Neal Wolin"
June 01, 2003
References
External links
*
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, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolin, Neal S.
1961 births
21st-century American politicians
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
20th-century American Jews
Living people
Obama administration cabinet members
Obama administration personnel
Politicians from Evanston, Illinois
United States Deputy Secretaries of the Treasury
Yale College alumni
Yale Law School alumni
Brooklyn Law School faculty
Acting United States Secretaries of the Treasury
21st-century American Jews