Lael Brainard

Lael Brainard (born January 1, 1962) is an American economist serving as the 14th director of the National Economic Council since February 21, 2023. She previously served as the 22nd vice chair of the Federal Reserve between May 2022 and February 2023. Prior to her term as vice chair, Brainard served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, taking office in 2014. Before her appointment to the Federal Reserve, she served as the 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 West Germany and Poland. She graduated from Wesleyan University in 1983 and received a PhD from Harvard University in 1989 as a National Science Foundation Fellow.

Brainard was a White House Fellow in 1994-1995. Founded in 1964, the White House Fellowship is one of America’s most prestigious programs for leadership and public service. The Fellowship, awarded on a strictly non-partisan basis, offers exceptional young leaders first-hand experience working at the highest levels of federal government.

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 was nominated by Barack Obama to serve as the Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs at the Department of the Treasury on March 23, 2009. She was confirmed to the position by a 78–19 vote in the U.S. Senate on April 20, 2010, and was sworn in on the same day. She tendered her resignation on November 8, 2013, amid indicators in the professional community that she would be a viable nominee to the Fed board.

Following the resignation of Elizabeth Ashburn Duke, Brainard was nominated to the Fed board on January 13, 2014, alongside Stanley Fischer and Jerome Powell. She was confirmed by a 61–31 vote in the U.S. Senate on June 12, 2014; her 14-year term began when she was sworn in four days later. 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.

During the 2020 presidential transition of Joe Biden, Brainard had been viewed by media outlets as an early frontrunner to be Secretary of the Treasury, though Janet Yellen was chosen instead.

President Biden nominated Brainard to serve as Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve on November 22, 2021, succeeding Richard Clarida in the role. On April 26, 2022, her nomination as Federal Reserve Vice Chair was confirmed by the U.S. Senate. She was sworn in on May 23, 2022. In February 2023, Biden announced Brainard as Brian Deese's successor as Director of the National Economic Council (NEC). She resigned her positions as Federal Reserve governor and Vice Chair on February 18, 2023. As NEC director, Brainard additionally serves as chair of the White House Competition Council.