Adewale “Wally” Adeyemo has been named the incoming deputy Treasury secretary. He will serve under Janet Yellen, who will be the first woman to serve as head of the Treasury Department.
A center-left Democrat, Adeyemo, 39, previously served in the administration of President Barack Obama as an international economics advisor.
His past posts also include serving as senior advisor and deputy chief of staff at the Treasury Department, deputy national security advisor, deputy director of the National Economic Council and the first chief of staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
After the election of President Donald Trump, Adeyemo returned to the private sector, where he worked for BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager.
Adeyemo left BlackRock in 2019 to become the first president of The Obama Foundation.
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Born in Nigeria, Adeyemo and his family immigrated to the U.S. when he was just a baby. He was raised in Southern California with a younger brother and sister. Coming from humble beginnings, Adeyemo’s mother was a nurse, and his father was a teacher.
He attended the University of California, Berkeley, and later received a law degree from Yale.
Adeyemo worked on the presidential campaigns of senators John Kerry, John Edwards and the ultimately-successful Obama.
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Known for his ability to understand the concerns of both the moderate and progressive arms of the party, Adeyemo is admired by Democratic leaders.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has said she will support Adeyemo’s nomination. “He remembers who he grew up with,” she said, “and he tries every day to make this a better country.”
Cecilia Rouse is another prominent African American named to Biden’s economic team, tapped to lead the Council of Economic Advisers.
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Rouse is a renowned labor economist and dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, the second-longest-serving dean in its history.
A Harvard graduate with a Ph.D. in economics, Rouse was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers during the first two years of Obama’s term. During that time, she was influential in helping to pull the country out of the Great Recession.
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