Rosa Gumataotao Rios (born July 17, 1965) is an American academic. She served as the 43rd
Treasurer of the United States
The treasurer of the United States is an officer in the United States Department of the Treasury who serves as custodian and trustee of the federal government's collateral assets and the supervisor of the department's currency and coinage produc ...
[Carla Marinucci]
"Obama selects Bay Area Latina as his choice for U.S. Treasurer,"
''San Francisco Chronicle'' (May 15, 2009). and is a visiting scholar at the
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is a part of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts, a ...
at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
.
Early life and education
Rios was born the sixth of nine children in
Hayward, California.
Rios' mother, an immigrant from Mexico, raised all nine children on her own and with the support of their church, sent all of her children to Catholic schools and off to college. All nine children worked at a young age. Rios worked beginning in her freshman year of high school at the office headquarters for the Alameda County Library System. Rios stated that she "had won the lottery with this job" as she had access to any book she ever wanted to read and that her experience and reading during this period led in part to her acceptance to Harvard University.
Rios graduated from
Moreau Catholic High School
Moreau Catholic High School is a college preparatory Roman Catholic secondary school sponsored by the Moreau Province of the Congregation of the Holy Cross. It is located in Hayward, California, within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland und ...
in 1983, before attending Harvard, where she graduated with high honors. She received the Dean’s Award as the founder of Cultural Rhythms and is one of the few U.S. recipients of the Silver Medal Award from the
Royal Society of Arts in
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
. Rios was hired by General Reinsurance Corporation as a Commercial Property Underwriter to analyze the risks of commercial investments. She later pursued her MBA at the Haas School of Business at
UC 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 uni ...
.
Public career
Rios was hired in 1994 by the
City of San Leandro as a Development Specialist.
She developed strong roots in business and government in
Northern California and became an expert in economic development and redevelopment for the cities of Union City, and Fremont before moving on to Oakland in 2003 as the Director of Redevelopment and Economic Development for the City of Oakland.
Consulting career
In 2003, Rios became a principal partner at Red River Associates, a consulting firm specializing in economic development and project management. While at Red River, she teamed with the Assistant General Manager of Infrastructure to restructure the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission in preparation for the seismic retrofit of the
Hetch Hetchy
Hetch Hetchy is a valley, a reservoir, and a water system in California in the United States. The glacial Hetch Hetchy Valley lies in the northwestern part of Yosemite National Park and is drained by the Tuolumne River. For thousands of years bef ...
water system, one of the nation’s largest capital improvement programs.
Robert Bobb
Robert C. Bobb is a former appointed official who was the Emergency Financial Manager for the Detroit Public Schools until 2011. In addition to having been employed by the school district, he received a salary from private foundations that promo ...
, who was now at that time was serving as the City Administrator for
Washington DC
)
, 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, ...
, recruited Rios to assist with the recruitment of the Montreal Expos to become the Washington Nationals in 2005 including the revitalization of the Anacostia waterfront. The following year, Rios became Managing Director of Investments for MacFarlane Partners, a real estate investment firm based in San Francisco. While there, she was responsible for the firm's urban investment and development programs throughout Northern California and consulting with local municipalities.
In 2008, Rios was invited to collaborate in the efforts of the Obama campaign to secure the state of Virginia in the 2008 presidential elections. She developed a strategy using the fan base of the DC United soccer team to register Latinos in Virginia. Many have said that this was a key tipping point necessary for the victory of then-Senator
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 ...
to win the democratic vote for the first time since 1964 in his campaign to become the President of the United States. Rios was asked to be one of 23 finance professionals to join the Treasury-Federal Reserve transition team at the height of the financial crisis in 2008.
On May 18, 2009,
President 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 ...
officially nominated Rios as the
Treasurer of the United States
The treasurer of the United States is an officer in the United States Department of the Treasury who serves as custodian and trustee of the federal government's collateral assets and the supervisor of the department's currency and coinage produc ...
and was confirmed by the
U.S. 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 ...
on July 24, 2009.
Treasurer of the United States
![Rios signs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Rios_signs.jpg)
In May 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 ...
nominated Rios to be
Treasurer of the United States
The treasurer of the United States is an officer in the United States Department of the Treasury who serves as custodian and trustee of the federal government's collateral assets and the supervisor of the department's currency and coinage produc ...
and was confirmed by the Senate unanimously in July 2009. Rios was sworn in on August 20, 2009. Her signature was initially taken on her first day of the job (August 6th), and first appeared on US paper currency the day after Thanksgiving 2009. Rios was also a part of the team that implemented the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
with an emphasis on the Build America Bonds (BAB) program. Rios convened and trained state and local government officials and other stakeholders on how to access and utilize Build America Bonds to fund major infrastructure projects during the economic recovery. Rios was the Chief Executive Officer of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the United States Mint. She oversaw all currency and coin production activities. Rios was the first Treasurer to have her portfolio which also included the Chair of the Advanced Counterfeiting Deterrence Steering Committee and Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury in the areas of community development and public engagement. Her signature currently appeared on $1.2 trillion out of the $1.4 trillion in circulation worldwide when she stepped aside.
Her almost eight-year effort to redesign the nation’s currency included the first-ever nationwide public engagement process in the history of the federal government using a social media portal, roundtables and town halls. Rios began pushing for the change soon after she joined the Obama Administration in 2009. Her presentation to then-Treasury Secretary
Tim 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 ...
went so well, she told CNN afterwards, that she left the room convinced the cause was sailing forward. Rios stepped down as Treasurer; her last day in office was July 11, 2016.
Rios was the longest serving Senate-confirmed Treasury official beginning with her time on the Treasury/Federal Reserve Transition Team in November 2008 at the height of the financial crisis.
Later career
After the end of her tenure at Treasury, Rios launched an organization called Empowerment 2020 at the
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is a part of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts, a ...
, where she was working as a visiting scholar. In November 2020, Rios was named a volunteer member of the
Joe Biden presidential transition
The presidential transition of Joe Biden began on November 7, 2020 and ended on January 20, 2021. Unlike previous presidential transitions, which normally take place during the roughly 10-week period between the election in the first week o ...
Agency Review Team to support transition efforts related to the
United States Department of 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 ...
. In May 2021, Rios joined the board of directors at
Ripple Labs. Inc. That year she also joined the cast of judges/investors on the streaming series ''
Unicorn Hunters'', where entrepreneurs pitch investing in their businesses and the audience at home can also choose to invest alongside the judges. Fellow judges on the show includes
Lance Bass
James Lance Bass (; born May 4, 1979) is an American singer, dancer, actor, film, and television producer. He grew up in Mississippi and rose to fame as the bass singer for the American pop boy band NSYNC. NSYNC's success led Bass to work in film ...
and
Steve Wozniak.
On January 11, 2018, Rios was appointed to be a commissioner of the
United States Semiquincentennial Commission. She was appointed to be chair of the commission by President
Joe Biden in July 2022, succeeding Dan DiLella.
Awards and honors
Upon her resignation in 2016, she received the Hamilton Award, the highest honor bestowed in the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
In April 2015, a portrait of Rios was unveiled at
Winthrop House
John Winthrop House (commonly Winthrop House) is one of twelve undergraduate residential Houses at Harvard University. It is home to approximately 400 upperclass undergraduates.
Winthrop house consists of two buildings, Standish Hall and Gore ...
at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, where she lived as an undergraduate—it was the first portrait of a Hispanic female to hang on a wall in Harvard College. Rios was inducted into the
Maryland Women's Hall of Fame
The Maryland Women's Hall of Fame (MWHF) recognizes significant achievements and statewide contributions made by women who are Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virgin ...
in 2019.
Personal life
Rios has two children, Joey and Brooke.
Notes
External links
U.S. Department of the TreasuryMacFarlane Partners.Makers VideoThe View InterviewRosie Rios Video produced by ''
Makers: Women Who Make America''
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rios, Rosa Gumataotao
1965 births
American politicians of Mexican descent
California Democrats
Harvard University alumni
Hispanic and Latino American women in politics
Living people
Obama administration personnel
People from Hayward, California
Politicians from San Francisco
Treasurers of the United States
Women in California politics
People from San Leandro, California
Catholics from California
21st-century American women politicians
21st-century American politicians
Haas School of Business alumni