Sheila Bair has had a long and distinguished career in government, academia, and finance. She is widely respected for her expertise in financial regulation, consumer protection, student debt, and crypto currency oversight. Ms. Bair currently serves on a number of corporate and fintech boards while advocating for sensible policies that promote financial system stability and responsible lending practices.
Ms. Bair remains active on public policy issues as Senior Fellow at the Center for Financial Stability, Senior Advisor and Chair Emerita of the Systemic Risk Council. She provides frequent on-air commentary for the major business networks, including CNBC, Fox Business, Bloomberg and Yahoo Finance, and publishes op-eds in a variety of financial publications, including the Financial Times, WSJ, Barron’s, and Bloomberg.
Ms. Bair is perhaps best known as Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) from 2006 to 2011, when she steered the agency through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, working to bolster public confidence in the nation’s banking system. During her tenure, she received numerous awards and recognition for her leadership at the FDIC, including the JFK Library’s Profiles in Courage Award. She was twice named by Forbes Magazine as the second most powerful woman in the world and was dubbed the “little guy’s protector in chief” by Time Magazine. Time also placed her on the coveted “Time 100” most influential people list, profiling her on its cover with Elizabeth Warren and Mary Schapiro as one of the “New Sheriffs of Wall Street”.
Ms. Bair is a New York Times best-selling author with her memoir of the financial crisis, Bull by the Horns. She has also received numerous awards for her writings for children on financial matters. Her publications include a picture book series, Money Tales, which teach children how to avoid financial pitfalls such as excessive borrowing (Billy the Borrowing Blue-Footed Booby), impulse buying (Princess Persephone’s Dragon Ride Stand), and “too good to be true” financial schemes (Shark Scam). She has also published a young adult book on the financial crisis, Bullies of Wall Street.