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Wally Adeyemo

Occupation:

Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Biden Administration

Former President, Obama Foundation

Former, Senior Advisor, BlackRock

Former Senior Advisor, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Former Senior International Economic Adviser, President Barack Obama

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Adewale “Wally” Adeyemo is the former president of the Obama Foundation and a senior advisor at both BlackRock and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He served in numerous positions in the Obama administration, including Senior International Economic Adviser to the Treasury Department. During his work at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, he helped establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and acted as the Treasury Department’s chief negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). 1 As of March 2021, Adeyemo is no longer a senior advisor with BlackRock nor CSIS and serves as the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury at the United States Department of the Treasury under the Biden Administration. 2

Background

Wally Adeyemo is an economist and former Senior International Economic Adviser to President Barack Obama. He is a senior advisor at BlackRock, an investment management corporation, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. 3

Adeyemo is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group, the policy program of the Aspen Institute, a non-partisan think tank. 4 He serves on the boards of Demos, a left-wing public policy advocacy group; the Golden State Opportunity Foundation; and Just Homes. 5

Adeyemo is a former editor for the Hamilton Project, a program at the Brookings Institution focused on creating public policy to stimulate economic growth. 6

On March 26, 2021, Adeyemo was sworn in as the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury at the United States Department of the Treasury under President Joe Biden. He no longer serves as senior advisor with BlackRock nor the CSIS as of January 2023. 7

Obama Foundation

Wally Adeyemo was named the first president of the Chicago-based Obama Foundation in August 2019. 8 As president, he oversaw many of the foundation’s programs and initiatives, including the Obama Fellowship, Obama Scholars, the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, and the Girls Opportunity Alliance. 9

Adeyemo had also worked to develop the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park, on Chicago’s South Side. The center had attracted controversy from the initial construction cost of $500 million to build, as of 2021, the project possible displacement and rising property taxes. 10

The Foundation had rejected the proposed “Community Benefits Agreement (CBA),” that would protect housing and jobs for people who live near the center. 11 This agreement was backed by a local coalition of left-wing organizations whose members include groups like the Chicago Teachers Union, the South Side Chicago Democratic Socialists of America, Friends of the Parks, and the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. 12

Obama Administration

Wally Adeyemo held several positions at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, including Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff. He helped establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2011, and acted as its first Chief of Staff. 13

Adeyemo worked on a range of international economic issues, and acted as the Treasury Department’s chief negotiator for the macroeconomic policy of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)14 Though TPP had supporters in both parties, it did not pass Congress in 2016. 15

In 2015, former President Obama appointed Adeyemo as Deputy National Security Advisor and Deputy director of the National Economic Council (NEC). He served as Obama’s Senior International Economic Adviser, and attended the G7 and G20 summits. 16

References

  1. “Obama Foundation Announces Wally Adeyemo as President.” Obama Foundation. August 1, 2019. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://www.obama.org/updates/obama-foundation-announces-president/
  2. “Wally Adeyemo.” U.S Department of the Treasury, Accessed January 25, 2023. https://home.treasury.gov/about/general-information/officials/Wally-Adeyemo
  3. “Obama Foundation Announces Wally Adeyemo as President.” Obama Foundation. August 1, 2019. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://www.obama.org/updates/obama-foundation-announces-president/
  4. “Wally Adeyemo.” Aspen Institute. 2019. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://www.aspeninstitute.org/our-people/wally-adeyemo/
  5. “Obama Foundation Announces Wally Adeyemo as President.” Obama Foundation. August 1, 2019. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://www.obama.org/updates/obama-foundation-announces-president/
  6. “Wally Adeyemo.” Reiss Center on Law and Security. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://www.lawandsecurity.org/mission/team/wally-adeyemo/
  7. “Wally Adeyemo.” U.S Department of the Treasury, Accessed January 25, 2023. https://home.treasury.gov/about/general-information/officials/Wally-Adeyemo
  8. Bowean, Lolly. “Obama Foundations Taps Former White House Official as its First President.” The Chicago Tribune. August 1, 2019. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-obama-foundation-new-president-chicago-20190801-4y475nevwrhiledypt3cjkyy2a-story.html
  9. “Obama Foundation Announces Wally Adeyemo as President.” Obama Foundation. August 1, 2019. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://www.obama.org/updates/obama-foundation-announces-president/
  10. Bowean, Lolly. “Obama Foundations Taps Former White House Official as its First President.” The Chicago Tribune. August 1, 2019. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-obama-foundation-new-president-chicago-20190801-4y475nevwrhiledypt3cjkyy2a-story.html
  11. Kamin, Blair. “The dilemma of development: Will Obama center hurt those it’s supposed to help?” March 3, 2018. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/blair-kamin/ct-met-obama-center-displacement-kamin-0304-story.html
  12. “Obama Community Benefits Agreement Coalition.” Obama CBA. Accessed September 10, 2019. http://www.obamacba.org/coalition.html
  13. “Obama Foundation Announces Wally Adeyemo as President.” Obama Foundation. August 1, 2019. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://www.obama.org/updates/obama-foundation-announces-president/
  14. “Obama Foundation Announces Wally Adeyemo as President.” Obama Foundation. August 1, 2019. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://www.obama.org/updates/obama-foundation-announces-president/
  15. “Congress will abandon Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, White House concedes.” The Guardian. November 12, 2016. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/nov/12/tpp-trade-deal-congress-obama
  16. “Wally Adeyemo.” Center for Strategic and International Studies. 2019. Accessed September 10, 2019.
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