Adewale "Wally" Adeyemo (born May 20, 1981) is a

Nigerian-American Nigerian Americans ( ig, Ṇ́dị́ Naìjíríyà n'Emerịkà; ha, Yan Najeriyar asalin Amurka; yo, Àwọn ọmọ Nàìjíríà Amẹ́ríkà) are an ethnic group of Americans who are of Nigerian ancestry. The number of Nigerian immigran ...

government official serving as the

United States deputy secretary of the treasury The United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, in the United States government, advises and assists the Secretary of the Treasury in the supervision and direction of the Department of the Treasury and its activities, and succeeds the Secret ...

. He was the first president of the

Obama Foundation The Barack Obama Foundation is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization founded in 2014. It oversees the creation of the Barack Obama Presidential Center, runs the My Brother's Keeper Alliance (a program Barack Obama began while he was president), ...

and also served during the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

as the

deputy national security advisor The United States Deputy National Security Advisor is a member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and the United States National Security Council, serving under the President's National Security Advisor. Among other res ...

for international economics from 2015 to 2016 and deputy director of the National Economic Council.

Early life and education

Adeyemo was born to

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

parents in

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and raised in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. His father was a teacher and his mother was a nurse. He has two younger siblings. After graduating from Eisenhower High School in

Rialto, California Rialto is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States, 56 miles east of Los Angeles, near the Cajon Pass, Interstate 15, Interstate 10, State Route 210 and Metrolink routes. Its population was 104,026 as of the 2020 Census, u ...

in 1999, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the

University of California, 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 u ...

in 2004 and 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 ...

degree from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

in 2009.

Career

Adeyemo served as the director of African American outreach for the

John Kerry 2004 presidential campaign The 2004 presidential campaign of John Kerry, the longtime U.S. senator from Massachusetts, began when he formed an exploratory committee on December 1, 2002. On September 2, 2003, he formally announced his candidacy for Democratic nomination. ...

and was based in the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

office.

Obama Administration

Prior to joining the

, Adeyemo worked as an editor at the

Hamilton Project The Hamilton Project is an economic policy initiative within the Brookings Institution. It was originally launched in April 2006 by a combination of public policy makers, business people, academic leaders, and other former Clinton administration ec ...

. Adeyemo then served as senior advisor and deputy chief of staff to

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 ...

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 ...

. Adeyemo later worked as a negotiator on the

Trans-Pacific Partnership The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), or Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, was a highly contested proposed trade agreement between 12 Pacific Rim economies, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singa ...

. He also served as the first chief of staff of the

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an agency of the United States government responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. CFPB's jurisdiction includes banks, credit unions, securities firms, payday lenders, mortg ...

under

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...

. In November 2014, Adeyemo was nominated to be assistant secretary of the treasury for international markets and development at the same time that the incumbent assistant secretary,

Marisa Lago Marisa Lago (born December 4, 1955) is an American attorney serving as the Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade. She previously served as director of the New York City Department of City Planning and chair of the City Planning Com ...

, was nominated to be a deputy United States trade representative. He 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 September 2015, but the committee did not advance his nomination to the full Senate. The nomination was withdrawn by President Obama in December 2015. Adeyemo was instead selected to concurrently serve as

for international economics and deputy director of the National Economic Council in 2015, serving until 2016. During his tenure, he was the president's representative to the G7 and

G20 The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation, ...

and held several senior management positions at the Department of the Treasury, including senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, and chief negotiator for the

’s provisions on macroeconomic policy.

Out of government

Adeyemo worked at

BlackRock BlackRock, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multi-national investment company based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a Enterprise risk management, risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackR ...

for two years from 2017, serving as a senior advisor, having previously been interim chief of staff for the firm's CEO,

Laurence D. Fink Laurence Douglas Fink (born November 2, 1952) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and CEO of BlackRock, an American multinational investment management corporation. BlackRock is the largest money-management firm in the wor ...

. On August 1, 2019, Adeyemo was selected as the first president of the

Biden Administration

In November 2020, it was announced that Adeyemo would be nominated to serve as

in the

Biden administration Joe Biden's tenure as the 46th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2021. Biden, a Democrat from Delaware who previously served as vice president under Barack Obama, took office following his victory ...

. On January 20, 2021, his nomination was submitted to the Senate for confirmation. A hearing 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 ...

was held on February 23, 2021. On March 3, 2021, he was reported out of committee by

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...

and on March 25, 2021, he was confirmed by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, also by voice vote. On March 26, 2021, he was sworn into office by Secretary

Janet Yellen Janet Louise Yellen (born August 13, 1946) is an American economist serving as the 78th United States secretary of the treasury since January 26, 2021. She previously served as the 15th chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018. Yellen is t ...

. Deputy Secretary Adeyemo has been heavily involved in sanctions enforcement in 2022, visiting and speaking with foreign regulators to encourage their cooperation.

References

External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Adeyemo, Wally United States Deputy Secretaries of the Treasury United States Deputy National Security Advisors American people of Nigerian descent American politicians of Nigerian descent Biden administration personnel Obama administration personnel California lawyers Yale Law School alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Nigerian emigrants to the United States American people of Yoruba descent People from Los Angeles County, California 1981 births Living people