Biden to appoint Nigerian born Adeyemo, as Deputy Secretary of Treasury
US President-Elect, Joe Biden, is set to announce a Nigerian-born attorney, Adewale Adeyemo, as deputy Treasury secretary.
The US-based media Politico reported on the development on Sunday.
Adeyemo, who is a former senior international economic adviser during the Obama administration, will serve under former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who Biden plans to appoint to lead the US Treasury Department.
Adeyemo’s appointment is one of many key cabinet positions Biden is expected to announce in the coming days.
Born in Nigeria, Adeyemo was raised in California where he obtained a bachelor’s degree before proceeding to Yale Law School for his legal education.
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.
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He later worked as the chief negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and also served as the first chief of staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under Elizabeth Warren.
Meanwhile, in 2015, he was appointed to concurrently serve as Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics and deputy director of the National Economic Council.
Adeyemo went on to become the first president of the Obama Foundation.
He is reputed to have helped the US combat the global economic recession of 2008.
Biden’s economic team is made of mostly people who had served in the administration of Obama.
They reportedly played key roles in tackling the financial crisis that hit the US under the Obama presidency.
Adeyemo has held several management positions at the US Department of the treasury, including senior adviser and deputy chief of staff — a position he held for about three years.
He is currently on the boards of Golden State Opportunity Foundation and Aspen Strategy Group, among others.
Similarly, Biden is expected to name Cecilia Rouse, an African American economist at Princeton University, to lead the Council of Economic Advisers.
