Adewale O. "Wally" Adeyemo (born May 20, 1981) is an American attorney. He served as the

United States deputy secretary of the treasury The deputy secretary of the treasury of the United States advises and assists the Secretary of the Treasury in the supervision and direction of the Department of the Treasury and its activities, and succeeds the Secretary in the secretary's abs ...

during the

Presidency of Joe Biden Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democr ...

. He was the first president of the

Obama Foundation The Barack Obama Foundation is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization founded in 2014. It oversees the creation of the Barack Obama Presidential Center, runs the My Brother's Keeper Alliance (a program Barack Obama began while he was president) ...

and served during the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

as the

deputy national security advisor The United States Deputy National Security Advisor is a member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and the United States National Security Council, serving under the President's National Security Advisor (United States), N ...

for

international economics International economics is concerned with the effects upon economic activity from international differences in productive resources and consumer preferences and the international institutions that affect them. It seeks to explain the patterns an ...

from 2015 to 2016 and deputy director of the National Economic Council.

Early life and education

Adeyemo was born to Yoruba parents in

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the List of Nigerian cities by population, third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano (city), Kano, with a total populatio ...

, Nigeria, and raised in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. His father was a teacher and his mother was a nurse. He has two younger siblings. After graduating from Eisenhower High School in

Rialto, California Rialto is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States, 56 miles east of Los Angeles, near the Cajon Pass, Interstate 15, Interstate 10, State Route 210 and Metrolink routes. Its population was 104,026 as of the 2020 census, ...

, in 1999, he received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, in 2004 and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

in 2009.

Early career

Adeyemo served as the director of African American outreach for the

John Kerry 2004 presidential campaign The 2004 presidential campaign of John Kerry, the longtime U.S. senator from Massachusetts, began when he formed an exploratory committee on December 1, 2002. On September 2, 2003, he formally announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomina ...

in California and was based in the

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

office. Prior to joining the

, Adeyemo worked as an editor at the

Hamilton Project The Hamilton Project is an economic policy initiative within the Brookings Institution. It was originally launched in April 2006 by a combination of public policy makers, business people, academic leaders, and other former Clinton administration ec ...

. Adeyemo then served as senior advisor and deputy chief of staff to

Jack Lew Jacob Joseph Lew (born August 29, 1955) is an American attorney and diplomat who served as the 28th United States ambassador to Israel from 2023 to 2025. He was the 76th United States secretary of the treasury from 2013 to 2017. A member of the ...

in the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

. Adeyemo later worked as a negotiator on the

Trans-Pacific Partnership The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), or Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), was a proposed trade agreement between 12 Pacific Rim countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietn ...

. He also served as the first chief of staff of the

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. CFPB's jurisdiction includes banks, credit unions, securities firms, Payday lo ...

under

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren (née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A mem ...

Later career

Obama administration (2014–2016)

In November 2014, Adeyemo was nominated to be

Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Markets The Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Trade and Development is a senior official in the United States Department of the Treasury who heads a portfolio of the department's offices on international financial services issues, tra ...

at the same time that the incumbent assistant Secretary, Marisa Lago, was nominated to be a Deputy United States Trade representative. He appeared before the

Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs The United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (formerly the Committee on Banking and Currency), also known as the Senate Banking Committee, has jurisdiction over matters related to banks and banking, price controls, ...

in September 2015, but the committee did not advance his nomination to the full Senate. The nomination was withdrawn by President Obama in December 2015. Adeyemo was instead selected to concurrently serve as

Deputy National Security Advisor The United States Deputy National Security Advisor is a member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and the United States National Security Council, serving under the President's National Security Advisor (United States), N ...

for International Economics and deputy director of the National Economic Council in 2015, serving until 2016. During his tenure, he was the president's representative to the G7 and

G20 The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stabil ...

and held several senior management positions at the Department of the Treasury, including senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, and chief negotiator for the

’s provisions on macroeconomic policy.

Out of government

Adeyemo worked at

BlackRock BlackRock, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational investment company. Founded in 1988, initially as an enterprise risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager ...

for two years from 2017, serving as a senior advisor, having previously been interim chief of staff for the firm's CEO, Laurence D. Fink. On August 1, 2019, Adeyemo was selected as the first president of the

. In January 13, 2025, Bloomberg reported that Adeyemo was joining Columbia University as a fellow at the

School of International and Public Affairs The School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) is the List of schools of international relations in the United States, international affairs and public policy school, public policy school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League univers ...

and the Center on Global Energy Policy. In March of 2025, he signed with the

Washington Speakers Bureau Washington Speakers Bureau (WSB) is a privately held speakers agency founded in 1980 and headquartered in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The company was founded in 1980 by Bernie Swain, Paula Swain, and Harry Rhoads, Jr. In 2000, the com ...

as an exclusive speaker.

Biden administration

Nomination to Treasury

In November 2020, it was announced that Adeyemo would be nominated to serve as

United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury The deputy secretary of the treasury of the United States advises and assists the Secretary of the Treasury in the supervision and direction of the Department of the Treasury and its activities, and succeeds the Secretary in the secretary's abs ...

in the

Biden administration Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democr ...

. On January 20, 2021, his nomination was submitted to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

for confirmation. A hearing before the

Senate Committee on Finance The United States Senate Committee on Finance (or, less formally, Senate Finance Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate. The committee concerns itself with matters relating to taxation and other revenue measures generall ...

was held on February 23, 2021; his nomination was reported out of committee by

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "by live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by respondin ...

on March 3. On March 25, 2021, he was confirmed by the Senate, also by voice vote.

Tenure

On March 26, 2021, he was sworn into office by Secretary

Janet Yellen Janet Louise Yellen (born August 13, 1946) is an American economist who served as the 78th United States secretary of the treasury from 2021 to 2025. She also served as chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018. She was the first woman to h ...

. Deputy Secretary Adeyemo has been heavily involved in sanctions enforcement in 2022, visiting and speaking with foreign regulators to encourage their cooperation. On June 2, 2024, Adeyemo wrote an article for the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' headlined "We need to put sand in the gears of the Russian war machine", in the context of the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

References

External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Adeyemo, Wally United States deputy secretaries of the treasury United States deputy national security advisors American politicians of Nigerian descent Biden administration personnel BlackRock people Obama administration personnel California lawyers Yale Law School alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Nigerian emigrants to the United States American people of Yoruba descent People from Los Angeles County, California 1981 births Living people Eisenhower High School (Rialto, California) alumni