Biden nominates Nigerian, Adeyemo as deputy secretary of U.S. treasury

Washington, Dec. 1, 2020

President-elect Joe Biden has picked Obama Foundation president and economist, Adewale “Wally” Adeyemo, a Nigerian, to be deputy secretary of the Treasury.

If confirmed, Adeyemo would be the first Black deputy secretary of the U.S. Treasury.

Biden picked Adeyemo when he unveiled his economic team, nominating Janet Yellen, former Federal Reserve chair, to lead the Treasury Department.

If confirmed by the Senate, Yellen would be the first woman to serve as U.S. treasury secretary in the department’s 231 years of history.

She would also be the first person to have served as treasury secretary, chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, and chair of the Federal Reserve.

Adeyemo, a Hyde Park resident, joined the Obama Foundation in August 2019 as its first president.

He came to the foundation after serving in a variety of positions in the Obama administration.

After leaving the White House, he signed on as a senior adviser at BlackRock, the global investment firm, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

During the tenure of President Barack Obama, Adeyemo was the deputy director of the National Economic Council; the assistant secretary for international markets and development at the Treasury Department; deputy chief of staff of the Treasury Department in 2012; and chief of staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for 16 months, starting in 2010.

Adeyemo received his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School.