Biden Appoints Nigerian-Born Adewale Adeyemo As US Deputy Treasury Secretary

Biden Appoints Nigerian-Born Adewale Adeyemo As US Deputy Treasury Secretary

Adewale Adeyemo giving a speech titled “The G-7 and the Global Economy” at a Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) event on May 19, 2016. JEREMY TRIPP/PIIE

US President-elect, Joe Biden has appointed Nigerian-born attorney, Adewale Adeyemo, as Deputy Treasury Secretary

“It’s official! Wale Adeyemo becomes the first-ever Nigerian American Deputy Secretary of the US Treasury, in the history of the country!! Congrats to Wale,” the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa tweeted on Monday, confirming the appointment of the former senior international economic adviser during the Obama administration.


Adeyemo will serve under former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who Biden plans to appoint to lead the US Treasury Department.

Born in Nigeria, Adeyemo was raised in California where he obtained a bachelor’s degree before proceeding to Yale Law School for his legal education.

Before his appointment into the Obama administration, Adeyemo worked as an editor at the Hamilton Project, then served as senior advisor and deputy chief of staff to Jack Lew in the United States Department of Treasury.

He later worked as the chief negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and also served as the first chief of staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under Elizabeth Warren.

In 2015, he was appointed to concurrently 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.

According to Politico, Biden is also expected to name Cecilia Rouse, an African American economist at Princeton University, to lead the Council of Economic Advisers.