The Nigerian born Adeyemo, fondly called ‘Wally’, will serve as deputy to a former chair of the federal reserve, Janet Yellen, who has been picked as treasury secretary under Joe Biden. His appointment is one of many key cabinet positions Biden is expected to announce in the coming days.
But who is Wally, what is his pedigree, and how prepared is he to take on the big job?
The prospective stint will not be Wally’s first in public office, so he is not a tenderfoot. He served in government during the Obama administration. Prior to his appointment into the Obama administration, Adeyemo had worked as an editor at the Hamilton Project, and subsequently served as senior advisor and deputy chief of staff to Jack Lew in the United States Department of Treasury.
He has also worked as the chief negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and, as the first chief of staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under Elizabeth Warren.
In the twilight of the Obama administration, he was appointed to synchronously serve as Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics and deputy director of the National Economic Council.
He went on to become the first president of the Obama Foundation.
Born in Nigeria, Adeyemo was raised east of Los Angeles, California. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley and Juris Doctor from Yale Law School
Wally, born 1981, is the first president of the Obama Foundation. During the Obama Administration, Adeyemo served as Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics from 2015 to 2016 and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council.
