30 Facts About Sheila Bair

Sheila Colleen Bair was born on April 3,1954 and is an American former government official who was the 19th Chair of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation from 2006 to 2011, during which time she shortly after taking charge of the FDIC in June 2006 began warning of the potential systemic risks posed by the growing trend of subprime-mortgage-backed bonds, and then later assumed a prominent role in the government's response to the 2008 financial crisis.

Sheila Bair was appointed to the post for a five-year term on June 26,2006, by George W Bush through July 8,2011.

Sheila Bair was the 28th president of Washington College in Chestertown, MD, the first female head of the college in its 234-year history, a position she held from 2015 until her resignation in 2017.

Sheila Bair received her bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Kansas in 1975, and worked as a bank teller for a brief period, before receiving a JD from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1978.

Sheila Bair served as Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the US Department of the Treasury, Senior Vice President for Government Relations of the New York Stock Exchange, a Commissioner and Acting Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Research Director, Deputy Counsel and Counsel to Kansas Republican Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole.

Sheila Bair began her career in the General Counsel's office of the former US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Sheila Bair left the FDIC on July 8,2011, when her five-year term expired.

Sheila Bair became a senior advisor to The Pew Charitable Trusts in August 2011.

Sheila Bair is chair emerita of the Systemic Risk Council, a volunteer effort formed by the CFA Institute and the Pew Charitable Trusts to monitor and comment on regulation.

Sheila Bair has written several books for children in a series published by Albert Whitman called Money Tales.

Sheila Bair's books encourage savings and teach money basics: Rock, Brock and the Savings Shock, Isabel's Car Wash, Bullies of Wall Street, Billy the Borrowing Blue Footed Booby, Princess Persephone Loses the Castle, Shark Scam and Princess Persephone Loses the Castle.

In May 2015, Sheila Bair was appointed president of Washington College, becoming the first female head of the college in its 234-year history.

Sheila Bair resigned on June 30,2017, citing the demands of the job and insufficient time with her family.

Since leaving government service, Sheila Bair has served on a number of corporate boards.

Sheila Bair is currently on the boards of Bunge Limited, Lion Electric, and Fannie Mae.

In November 2020, Sheila Bair was named the first woman Chair of Fannie Mae's board of directors.

Sheila Bair was criticized for joining the board of Santander, a Spanish banking group, which critics viewed as inconsistent with her public views on the revolving door.

Sheila Bair has served on a number of nonprofit boards, including as a founding director of the Volcker Alliance, the Center for Responsible Lending, the RAND Corporation, and the National Women's Law Center.

In 2021, Sheila Bair was appointed to a group advising the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation on setting up the International Sustainability Standards Board, which aims to create a set of global standards for firms reporting the impact of climate change.

Sheila Bair was appointed a trustee of Economists for Peace and Security, a group of renowned economists and public servants concerned about issues of peace, conflict, war, and the world economy.

Sheila Bair assumed a prominent role in the government's response to the 2008 financial crisis, working alongside and sometimes publicly opposing Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner, then president of the New York Federal Reserve.

Shortly after taking charge of the FDIC in June 2006, Sheila Bair began warning of the potential systemic risks posed by the growing trend of subprime-mortgage-backed bonds.

In October 2007, Sheila Bair took her argument public with an op-ed in The New York Times.

Sheila Bair resisted many of the government bailouts of insolvent banks; rather she argued that the government should impose greater accountability by forcing those institutions to sell off bad assets, replace management and re-privatize them, more akin to how the FDIC handles smaller banks.

Sheila Bair fought against the Federal Reserve's adoption of the Basel II advanced approaches, which would have allowed large banks to use their own internal models to help set their regulatory capital requirements.

In March 2020, Sheila Bair called for the Federal Reserve to focus on getting credit flowing to US businesses affected by the spreading coronavirus and workers losing their jobs.

In 2009, Sheila Bair was named one of Time magazine's "Time 100" most influential people.

In 2009, Sheila Bair was presented the Consumer Federation of America's Philip Hart Public Service Award.

In 2011, Sheila Bair was named of named one of America's Top Leaders by The Washington Post and Harvard's Center for Public Leadership.

On March 29,2012, Sheila Bair was honored by the Romney Institute of Public Management as the Administrator of the Year.