US President-elect nominates Nigerian as deputy treasury secretary

United States President-elect, Joe Biden, has nominated a Nigerian-born attorney and former senior international economic adviser during the Obama administration, Adewale Adeyemo as deputy Treasury Secretary.

Adeyemo will serve under former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who Biden has nominated

The deputy Secretary of the Treasury in the US government, advises and assists the Secretary of Treasury in the supervision and direction of the powerful Department of Treasury and its activities, and succeeds the Secretary in time of absence, sickness, or unavailability.

The deputy Treasury Secretary plays a primary role in the formulation and execution of Treasury policies and programs in all aspects of the department’s activities. In addition, the deputy Treasury Secretary is the only official other than the secretary who can sign a Treasury Order-a document that delegates authority residing in the Secretary or Deputy Secretary to another Treasury official, establishes Treasury policy, and establishes the reporting relationships and supervision of officials.

Born in Nigeria, Adeyemo is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley where he received his bachelor’s degree before proceeding to the Yale University Law school, where he was the student–body president. His desire for public service developed in 2009 when he joined the Treasury Department after law school, working alongside policymakers charged with coordinating the international response to the global recession.

Before his appointment into the Obama administration, Adeyemo worked as an editor at the Hamilton Project, then served as senior advisor and deputy chief of staff to Jack Lew in the United States Department of Treasury.

He later worked as the chief negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In 2010, he was seconded to the team charged to implement a part of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, where served as the first chief of staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under Senator Elizabeth Warren.

In 2015, he was appointed to concurrently serve as Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics and deputy director of the National Economic Council. He went on to become the first president of the Obama Foundation.