28 Facts About Lael Brainard

1.

Lael Brainard was born on January 1,1962 and is an American economist serving as the 14th director of the National Economic Council since February 21,2023.

2.

Lael Brainard previously served as the 22nd vice chair of the Federal Reserve between May 2022 and February 2023.

3.

The daughter of an American diplomat, Lael Brainard was born in Hamburg and spent her childhood in West Germany and Poland.

4.

Lael Brainard graduated from Wesleyan University in 1983 and received a PhD from Harvard University in 1989 as a National Science Foundation Fellow.

5.

Lael Brainard was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for six years before joining the Clinton administration as an economic advisor in 1997.

6.

Lael Brainard then worked as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution from 2001 to 2009.

7.

Lael Brainard was nominated by Barack Obama to serve as the Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs at the Department of the Treasury on March 23,2009.

8.

Lael Brainard tendered her resignation on November 8,2013, amid indicators in the professional community that she would be a viable nominee to the Fed board.

9.

Lael Brainard now serves as administrative governor and chair of four committees: Financial Stability; Federal Reserve Bank Affairs; Consumer and Community Affairs; and Payments, Clearing and Settlements.

10.

President Biden nominated Lael Brainard to serve as Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve on November 22,2021, succeeding Richard Clarida in the role.

11.

Lael Brainard resigned her positions as Federal Reserve governor and Vice Chair on February 18,2023.

12.

Lael Brainard graduated with university honors from Wesleyan University with a bachelor of arts degree from the College of Social Studies.

13.

Lael Brainard received masters and doctoral degrees in economics from Harvard University, where she was a National Science Foundation Fellow.

14.

Lael Brainard is the recipient of a White House Fellowship and a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship.

15.

Lael Brainard received the Alexander Hamilton Award for her service at the Department of the Treasury and was awarded the Harvard GSAS Centennial Medal and the New York Association of Business Economics William F Butler Award in 2019.

16.

Lael Brainard served as Assistant and Associate Professor of Applied Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management from 1990 to 1996 where her publications made important contributions on the relationship between offshore production, trade, and jobs; the measurement of structural and cyclical unemployment in the US economy; and strategic trade policy.

17.

Lael Brainard was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution from 2001 to 2009 and Vice President and Director of the Global Economy and Development Program from 2006 to 2009.

18.

On March 23,2009, President Obama nominated Lael Brainard to serve as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs.

19.

Reuters News Service reported on December 23,2009, that the Senate Finance Committee had approved Lael Brainard to become the "Treasury Department's top global diplomat, a job that would give her a key role in the bid to push China toward a flexible currency".

20.

Lael Brainard managed the Office of International Affairs at the Treasury Department with responsibilities including the euro area crisis and currency relations with China.

21.

Lael Brainard pressured Europe to follow a stronger economic rescue plan during the sovereign-debt crisis.

22.

Lael Brainard received the Alexander Hamilton Award for her service.

23.

Lael Brainard left her post in the US Treasury in November 2013.

24.

Lael Brainard was nominated to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors by President Barack Obama in January 2014.

25.

Lael Brainard serves as Administrative Governor, Chair of the Committee on Financial Stability, the Committee on Federal Reserve Bank Affairs, the Committee on Consumer and Community Affairs, the Committee on Payments, Clearing and Settlements, and the Subcommittee on Smaller Regional and Community Banking Organizations.

26.

On November 22,2021, President Joe Biden nominated Lael Brainard to be the vice-chair of the Federal Reserve.

27.

Lael Brainard became just the third woman to serve as Fed's Vice Chair, following Alice Rivlin and Janet Yellen.

28.

Lael Brainard is the second woman to serve as NEC Director, following Laura Tyson.