SAN FRANCISCO, December 16, (THEWILL) – United States President, Mr. Barrack Obama has designated a Nigerian/American named Adewale “Wally” Adeyemo, who served as a top official at the U.S Treasury Department, to succeed Ms. Caroline Atkinson as his Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economic Affairs.
The 34-year old Adeyemo recently joined the White House’s National Economic Council as deputy director from the Treasury, where he had served as the deputy chief of staff to Secretary Jacob Lew. He was also the Treasury’s lead negotiator on the currency agreement that was part of the Pacific trade deal.
Mr. Lew endorsed Mr. Adeyemo as having “developed a network of international relationships in economic offices around the world to promote U.S. interests effectively.” This was as Former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Mr. Adeyemo, who joined the administration in 2009, was a “natural diplomat with a great feel for policy.”
The Nigerian also worked on Treasury’s response to crises in Ukraine and Greece and in 2010 was one of the first officials charged with standing up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The position he in stepping into has served as a springboard to even higher profile international finance posts.
Mr. Adeyemo is coming in to succeed Ms. Atkinson who had been in that position since June 2013, which has seen her coordinating U.S. participation in the annual summits of the Group of 20 and Group of Seven countries. She also played key roles in the recently concluded climate negotiations in Paris and in pushing the White House’s trade agenda, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
Disclosing this in a statement issued yesterday, the U.S President thanked Ms. Atkinson for her service and said he was grateful that Mr. Adeyemo would carry on her work. Mr. Adeyemo had been nominated by Mr. Obama to serve as assistant Treasury secretary for international markets and development, but he is said to have asked the President to withdraw the nomination given his new role.
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