Lael Brainard
Brainard in July 2023
Director of the National Economic Council
Assumed office
February 21, 2023
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byBrian Deese
22nd Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve
In office
May 23, 2022 – February 18, 2023
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byRichard Clarida
Succeeded byPhilip Jefferson
Member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
In office
June 16, 2014 – February 18, 2023
PresidentBarack Obama
Donald Trump
Joe Biden
Preceded byElizabeth Ashburn Duke
Succeeded byAdriana Kugler
Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs
In office
April 20, 2010 – November 8, 2013
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byDavid H. McCormick
Succeeded byNathan Sheets
Personal details
Born (1962-01-01) January 1, 1962
Hamburg, West Germany (now Germany)
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
​
(m. 1998)​
Children3
EducationWesleyan University (BA)
Harvard University (MA, PhD)

Lael Brainard (born January 1, 1962) is an American economist serving as the 14th director of the National Economic Council since February 21, 2023. She previously served as the 22nd vice chair of the Federal Reserve between May 2022 and February 2023. Prior to her term as vice chair, Brainard served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, taking office in 2014. Before her appointment to the Federal Reserve, she served as the under secretary of the treasury for international affairs from 2010 to 2013.

The daughter of an American diplomat, Brainard was born in Hamburg and spent her childhood in West Germany and Poland.[1] She graduated from Wesleyan University in 1983 and received a PhD from Harvard University in 1989 as a National Science Foundation Fellow.

Brainard was a White House Fellow in 1994-1995. Founded in 1964, the White House Fellowship is one of America’s most prestigious programs for leadership and public service. The Fellowship, awarded on a strictly non-partisan basis, offers exceptional young leaders first-hand experience working at the highest levels of federal government.

She was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for six years before joining the Clinton administration as an economic advisor in 1997. She then worked as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution from 2001 to 2009.

Brainard was nominated by Barack Obama to serve as the Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs at the Department of the Treasury on March 23, 2009.[2] She was confirmed to the position by a 78–19 vote in the U.S. Senate on April 20, 2010, and was sworn in on the same day.[3] She tendered her resignation on November 8, 2013, amid indicators in the professional community that she would be a viable nominee to the Fed board.[4]

Following the resignation of Elizabeth Ashburn Duke, Brainard was nominated to the Fed board on January 13, 2014, alongside Stanley Fischer and Jerome Powell. She was confirmed by a 61–31 vote in the U.S. Senate on June 12, 2014;[5] her 14-year term began when she was sworn in four days later.[6] She now serves as administrative governor and chair of four committees: Financial Stability; Federal Reserve Bank Affairs; Consumer and Community Affairs; and Payments, Clearing and Settlements.[7][8]

During the 2020 presidential transition of Joe Biden, Brainard had been viewed by media outlets as an early frontrunner to be Secretary of the Treasury,[9][10] though Janet Yellen was chosen instead.[11]

President Biden nominated Brainard to serve as Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve on November 22, 2021, succeeding Richard Clarida in the role.[12] On April 26, 2022, her nomination as Federal Reserve Vice Chair was confirmed by the U.S. Senate.[13] She was sworn in on May 23, 2022.[14] In February 2023, Biden announced Brainard as Brian Deese's successor as Director of the National Economic Council (NEC).[15] She resigned her positions as Federal Reserve governor and Vice Chair on February 18, 2023.[16] As NEC director, Brainard additionally serves as chair of the White House Competition Council.[17]

Early life and education

Lael Brainard, daughter of the U.S. foreign-service officer and diplomat[18] Alfred Brainard, grew up in West Germany and later Poland in the period before the Revolutions of 1989 and the Fall of the Berlin Wall.[19][20][21] She graduated with university honors from Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of Social Studies.[8] Brainard received masters and doctoral degrees in economics from Harvard University, where she was a National Science Foundation Fellow.[8]

She is the recipient of a White House Fellowship and a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship. She received the Alexander Hamilton Award for her service at the Department of the Treasury[8][22][23] and was awarded the Harvard GSAS Centennial Medal and the New York Association of Business Economics William F. Butler Award in 2019.[24][25]

Career

Private sector

Brainard started her career at McKinsey & Company advising corporate clients on strategic challenges.

Brainard served as assistant and associate professor of Applied Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management from 1990 to 1996[8] where her publications made important contributions on the relationship between offshore production, trade, and jobs; the measurement of structural and cyclical unemployment in the U.S. economy; and strategic trade policy.

Brainard was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution from 2001 to 2009 and Vice President and Director of the Global Economy and Development Program from 2006 to 2009.[26]

White House

Beginning in 1997[27] Brainard served as deputy national economic advisor and deputy assistant to the president during the Clinton administration.[8] In this role, she was the White House staff coordinator for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meeting in Vancouver and Manila; responsible for the President's three-year review of NAFTA; and for preparing the way for China's entry into the WTO.[27] She was also responsible for the G7/G8 Jobs Conferences in the U.K. and France, and took part in President Clinton's visits to China, Latin America, the U.K., and the Summit of the Americas held in Miami.[28]

As deputy director of the National Economic Council, she helped build a new White House organization to address global economic challenges such as the Asian financial crisis and China's accession to the World Trade Organization. As the U.S. Sherpa to the G8, she helped shape the 2000 G8 summit that, for the first time, included leaders of the poorest nations and laid the foundations for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.[26]

Treasury

Brainard, far right, at a briefing for President Obama before the 2012 G20 Los Cabos summit

On March 23, 2009, President Obama nominated Brainard to serve as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs.[29][30] Reuters News Service reported on December 23, 2009, that the Senate Finance Committee had approved Brainard to become the "Treasury Department's top global diplomat, a job that would give her a key role in the bid to push China toward a flexible currency".[31] The Senate confirmed her in a 78–19 vote on April 20, 2010.[32] Brainard managed the Office of International Affairs at the Treasury Department with responsibilities including the euro area crisis and currency relations with China.[33][34][35] In this role, she exerted pressure on China to allow the forces of the free market to guide its currency. She also pressured Europe to follow a stronger economic rescue plan during the sovereign-debt crisis.[36][37][38]

During this time, she was the U.S. Representative to the G-20 Finance Deputies and G-7 Deputies and was a member of the Financial Stability Board. She received the Alexander Hamilton Award for her service.[8] She left her post in the U.S. Treasury in November 2013.[23][39]

Federal Reserve Board

Brainard's Federal Reserve Board portrait

Brainard was nominated to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors by President Barack Obama in January 2014.[40] She was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 61–31 on June 12, 2014,[41] and began her term on June 16, 2014.[42][43] Brainard serves as Administrative Governor, Chair of the Committee on Financial Stability, the Committee on Federal Reserve Bank Affairs, the Committee on Consumer and Community Affairs, the Committee on Payments, Clearing and Settlements, and the Subcommittee on Smaller Regional and Community Banking Organizations.[7]

Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve

Brainard sworn in as vice chair of the Federal Reserve by Jerome Powell in May 2022

On November 22, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Brainard to be the vice-chair of the Federal Reserve.[44] Her initial nomination was returned to President Biden on January 3, 2022, due to it expiring at the end of the year.[45] President Biden renominated her the following day.

Hearings were held on Brainard's nomination before the Senate Banking Committee on January 13, 2022. The committee favorably reported her nomination to the Senate floor on March 16, 2022, in a 16–8 vote.[46][47] On April 25, 2022, the United States Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 54–40 vote. On April 26, 2022, her nomination was confirmed by the Senate by a 52–43 vote, with all Democrats present and seven Republicans voting in favor of her confirmation.[13] She became just the third woman to serve as Fed's Vice Chair, following Alice Rivlin and Janet Yellen.[48]

National Economic Council

In February 2023, Biden selected Brainard as Director of the National Economic Council (NEC), replacing Brian Deese.[15] She is the second woman to serve as NEC Director, following Laura Tyson.[49] As NEC director, Brainard also serves at the helm of the White House Competition Council, a position she also succeeded Deese in.[17]

Publications

Brainard is co‑editor of Climate Change and Global Poverty: A Billion Lives in the Balance (2009);[50] co-editor of Too Poor For Peace? (2007);[51] co-editor of Offshoring White Collar Work (2006);[52] editor of Transforming the Development Landscape: the Role of the Private Sector (2006)[53] and Security by Other Means: Foreign Assistance, Global Poverty and American Leadership (2006);[54] and co-author of The Other War: Global Poverty and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (2004).[55]

References

  1. ↑ "Lael Brainard: 2019 Centennial Medal Citation | Harvard University - The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences". gsas.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on September 3, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  2. ↑ "President Obama Announces Additional Treasury Department Nominations". whitehouse.gov. Archived from the original on January 29, 2017. Retrieved November 20, 2020 – via National Archives.
  3. ↑ "PN224 - Nomination of Lael Brainard for Department of the Treasury, 111th Congress (2009-2010)". www.congress.gov. April 20, 2010. Archived from the original on October 26, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Dow Jones". Dow Jones. Archived from the original on October 7, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  5. ↑ "PN1344 - Nomination of Lael Brainard for Federal Reserve System, 113th Congress (2013-2014)". www.congress.gov. June 12, 2014. Archived from the original on October 26, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Lael Brainard sworn in as member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Jerome H. Powell sworn in for second term, and Stanley Fischer sworn in as Vice Chairman of the Board". Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Archived from the original on October 18, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  7. 1 2 "The Fed - Board Members". Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Archived from the original on March 18, 2018. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "The Fed - Lael Brainard". Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Archived from the original on April 9, 2018. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Meet the contenders for Biden's Cabinet". Politico. November 7, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  10. ↑ Smialek, Jeanna (November 10, 2020). "Lael Brainard's Steady Rise Could Culminate in Treasury Secretary Post". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  11. ↑ Mohsin, Saleha; Epstein, Jennifer; Pager, Tyler (November 21, 2020). "Brainard Slips as Treasury Contender With Biden Nearing Pick". Bloomberg. Retrieved November 22, 2020.
  12. ↑ "US President Biden to Keep Powell as Chair, Elevates Lael Brainard to Serve as Vice Chair". Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  13. 1 2 Rugaber, Christopher (April 26, 2022). "Brainard wins Senate confirmation to be Fed's vice chair". Associated Press. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  14. ↑ "Lael Brainard sworn in as Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System". Federal Reserve. Retrieved May 23, 2022.
  15. 1 2 "Biden announces reshaped economic team, naming 2 new top advisers". CBS. February 14, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Federal Reserve Board - Board Members". Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  17. 1 2 "Brainard Renews Advocacy for Competition After Latest Bank Takeover". Bloomberg. May 4, 2023. Retrieved June 6, 2023. Brainard took the NEC role in February, succeeding Brian Deese. Both also served as chair of the White House Competition Council. Brainard touted measures such as restricting so-called "junk fees" and curbing the cost of hearing aids.
  18. ↑ "Nach US-Wahl: Gebürtige Hamburgerin ist Favorit auf Posten als Bidens Finanzministerin". Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  19. ↑ "Zukünftiger US-Präsident Joe Biden: Gebürtige Hamburgerin soll Finanzen übernehmen | MOPO.de". November 13, 2020. Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  20. ↑ "Treasury Official Lael Brainard Steps Down, as White House Considers Her for Fed PostDow Jones". Dow Jones. Archived from the original on October 10, 2020. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  21. ↑ Smialek, Jeanna (November 10, 2020). "Lael Brainard's Steady Rise Could Culminate in Treasury Secretary Post". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  22. ↑ "Lael Brainard Confirmed as Under Secretary for International Affairs". Media-newswire.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  23. 1 2 "Brainard to leave Treasury". Politico.com. November 4, 2013. Archived from the original on December 14, 2013. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Fearless Advocates, Tireless Leaders, Harvard's Centennial Medalists Have Made a Dramatic Impact on Society". harvard.news.edu. May 29, 2019. Archived from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  25. ↑ "New York Association of Business Economics". nyabe.org. Archived from the original on July 3, 2020. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  26. 1 2 "Lael Brainard to Hold the Bernard L. Schwartz Chair in International Economics". Brookings. November 30, 2001. Archived from the original on April 9, 2018. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  27. 1 2 Kuttner, Robert (September 23, 2020). "Liberalish: The Complex Odyssey of Lael Brainard". The American Prospect. Archived from the original on November 20, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  28. ↑ "Lael Brainard". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved November 23, 2020 – via National Archives.
  29. ↑ "President Obama Announces Additional Treasury Department Nominations". whitehouse.gov. March 23, 2009. Retrieved June 18, 2016 – via National Archives.
  30. ↑ "Presidential Nominations Sent to the Senate, 3/23/09". whitehouse.gov. March 23, 2009. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved June 18, 2016 – via National Archives.
  31. ↑ "Senate panel OKs Lael Brainard for Treasury post". Reuters. December 23, 2009. Archived from the original on November 20, 2020. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  32. ↑ "U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 111th Congress - 2nd Session". www.senate.gov. Archived from the original on April 9, 2018. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  33. ↑ "International Affairs". Treasury.gov. Archived from the original on June 22, 2016. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  34. ↑ Lowrey, Annie (2012). "Lael Brainard Is Washington's Financial Envoy to Euro Crisis". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 9, 2018. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  35. ↑ "Globalizing Reform". The American Prospect. Archived from the original on April 9, 2018. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  36. ↑ Smialek, Jeanna (November 10, 2020). "Lael Brainard's Steady Rise Could Culminate in Treasury Secretary Post". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  37. ↑ "Brainard Faces China Questions If Biden Picks Her for Treasury". Bloomberg.com. November 9, 2020. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  38. ↑ Siegel, Rachel. "With pick for treasury secretary, Biden will tip hand about his economic agenda". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  39. ↑ "Treasury Officials". Treasury.gov. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  40. ↑ Puzzanghera, Jim (January 10, 2014). "Obama to nominate Stanley Fischer, 2 others to Federal Reserve seats". LA Times. Archived from the original on January 10, 2014. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
  41. ↑ "U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 113th Congress - 2nd Session, Vote 189". Senate Bill Clerk. June 12, 2014. Archived from the original on July 9, 2014. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  42. ↑ "FRB: Lael Brainard". Federalreserve.gov. Archived from the original on June 3, 2016. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  43. ↑ Appelbaum, Binyamin (July 25, 2016). "Lael Brainard, Donning a Global Lens, Champions Low Rates at Fed". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 9, 2018. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  44. ↑ "President Biden Nominates Jerome Powell to Serve as Chair of the Federal Reserve, Dr. Lael Brainard to Serve as Vice Chair". The White House. November 22, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  45. ↑ "PN1464 — Lael Brainard — Federal Reserve System 117th Congress (2021-2022)". US Congress. January 3, 2022. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  46. ↑ "PN1529 — Lael Brainard — Federal Reserve System 117th Congress (2021-2022)". US Congress. March 16, 2022. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  47. ↑ Lane, Sylvan (March 16, 2022). "Senate panel advances Biden Fed nominees to confirmation votes". The Hill. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  48. ↑ Egan, Matt (April 26, 2022). "Senate confirms Lael Brainard as Federal Reserve vice chair". CNN Business. Retrieved April 27, 2022.
  49. ↑ "Biden names Fed's Brainard top White House economic adviser". Yahoo. February 14, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  50. ↑ Brainard, Lael; Jones, Abigail; Purvis, Nigel (2009). Climate Change and Global Poverty: A Billion Lives in the Balance. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. ISBN 9780815702818.
  51. ↑ Brainard, Lael; Chollet, Derek, eds. (May 3, 2007). Too Poor for Peace?: Global Poverty, Conflict, and Security in the 21st Century. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 9780815713753.
  52. ↑ Brainard, Lael; Collins, Susan M. (2005). "Offshoring White-Collar Work: Editors' Summary". Brookings Trade Forum: ix–xxx. doi:10.1353/btf.2006.0007. JSTOR 25058760. S2CID 201774379.
  53. ↑ Werker, Eric D. (December 1, 2007). "Review of Transforming the Development Landscape: The Role of the Private Sector, edited by Lael Brainard". Archived from the original on August 11, 2015. Retrieved April 8, 2018. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  54. ↑ Brainard, Lael, ed. (January 10, 2007). Security by Other Means: Foreign Assistance, Global Poverty, and American Leadership. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 9780815713616.
  55. ↑ "The Other War: Global Poverty and the Millennium Challenge Account". Foreign Affairs. No. November/December 2003. January 28, 2009. ISSN 0015-7120. Archived from the original on April 10, 2018. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
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