President-elect of the United States of America, Joe Biden, is set to name Nigerian-American Adewale “Wally” Adeyemo as deputy treasury secretary.
Wally Adeyemo has spent his career working with organizations that are at the intersection of public policy, the private sector, and nonprofits that are focused on creating economic opportunity.
He currently serves as president at the Obama Foundation, providing advice on business strategy, macroeconomic policy, as well as geopolitics to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Economics Program.
Wally also advises policymakers, business leaders, and nonprofits on a range of topics including economic development, trade and investment, and on strategies to address economic inequality.
In 2015, he was appointed as deputy national security advisor and deputy director of the National Economic Council by President Obama, where he served as the president’s senior international economic advisor.
The Nigerian-American was responsible for coordinating the policymaking process on international finance, trade and investment, energy, and environmental issues.
He also served as the president’s representative to the G7 and G20.
Prior to this, Wally held several management positions at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, including senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, as well as chief negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s provisions on macroeconomic policy.
Wally also served as the first chief of staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In that capacity, he helped to hire the bureau’s initial executive leadership team and build an agency devoted to protecting U.S. consumers.
In addition, Wally is now a member of several boards and organizations including the Aspen Strategy Group, the board of Demos, and the board of the Golden State Opportunity Foundation.
He was born and raised east of Los Angeles, California, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and Yale Law School.
