Wally Adeyemo

Adewale O. "Wally" Adeyemo (born May 20, 1981) is an American attorney and political advisor. He served as the United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury during the Presidency of Joe Biden. He was the first president of the Obama Foundation and served during the Obama administration as the deputy national security advisor for international economics from 2015 to 2016 and deputy director of the National Economic Council.

Early life and education Adeyemo was born to Yoruba parents in Ibadan, Nigeria, and raised in Southern California. 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, in 1999, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2004 and a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School in 2009.

Early career Adeyemo served as the director of African American outreach for the John Kerry 2004 presidential campaign in California and was based in the San Francisco office.

Prior to joining the Obama administration, Adeyemo worked as an editor at the Hamilton Project. Adeyemo then served as senior advisor and deputy chief of staff to Jack Lew in the United States Department of the Treasury. Adeyemo later worked as a negotiator on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He also served as the first chief of staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under Elizabeth Warren.

Later career Obama administration (2014–2016) In November 2014, Adeyemo was nominated to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Markets 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 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 The nomination was withdrawn by President Obama in December 2015.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 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 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 Trans-Pacific Partnership’s provisions on macroeconomic policy.

On August 1, 2019, Adeyemo was selected as the first president of the Obama Foundation.

In January 13, 2025, Bloomberg reported that Adeyemo was joining Columbia University as a fellow at the School of International and Public Affairs and the Center on Global Energy Policy.

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 in the Biden administration. On January 20, 2021, his nomination was submitted to the Senate for confirmation. A hearing before the Senate Committee on Finance was held on February 23, 2021; his nomination was reported out of committee by voice vote on March 3. On March 25, 2021, he was confirmed by the Senate, also by voice vote. 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 headlined "We need to put sand in the gears of the Russian war machine", in the context of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.