Lael Brainard

Lael Brainard

Lael Brainard is an American economist who has served on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors since 2014. She previously served as the United States Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs from 2010 to 2013. Brainard was born in Hamburg and spent her childhood in East Germany and Poland.

About Lael Brainard in brief

Summary Lael BrainardLael Brainard is an American economist who has served on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors since 2014. She previously served as the United States Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs from 2010 to 2013. The daughter of an American diplomat, Brainard was born in Hamburg and spent her childhood in East Germany and Poland. She was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for six years before joining the Clinton administration as an economic advisor in 1997. She then worked as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution from 2001 to 2009. Brainard started her career at McKinsey & Company advising corporate clients on strategic challenges and she has also worked on microenterprise in West Africa.

She is the recipient of a White House Fellowship and a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship. She received the Alexander Hamilton Award for her service at the Treasury and was awarded the Harvard GSAS Centennial Medal and the New York Association of Business Economics William F. Butler Award in 2019. The Senate confirmed her in a 78–19 vote on April 20, 2010, and was sworn in on the same day. She resigned on November 8, 2013, amid rumors that she would be nominated to the Fed board. She now serves as administrative governor and chair of four committees: Financial Stability; Federal Reserve Bank Affairs; Consumer and Community Affairs; and Payments, Clearing and Settlements.