Jelena McWilliams, the top lawyer for First Third Bank of Cincinnati, and a former Senate Banking Committee staff member, is the nominee as the next chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), the White House announced Friday.
McWilliams, 44, would succeed Martin Gruenberg once confirmed. Gruenberg’s five-year term as chairman officially expired Nov. 30. He has said he would stay on as chairman until his successor is confirmed by the Senate. Gruenberg’s six-year term as a member of the FDIC Board is slated to expire in December 2018; he has not indicated if he will stay on the board through the end of that term.
According to the White House, McWilliams is now executive vice president, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary for Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati, Ohio. Before that, she was chief counsel and deputy staff director for the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. She previously served as assistant chief counsel for the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.
Previously, she was an attorney at the Federal Reserve Board, and practiced corporate and securities law at Morrison & Foerster LLP in Palo Alto, California, and Hogan & Hartson LLP (now Hogan Lovells LLP) in Washington, D.C. Ms.
She holds a B.S. in political science from the University of California (Berkeley); she earned her law degree from the U.C. Berkeley School of Law.
McWILLIAMS BIO
| INFO, BACKGROUND ON JELENA MCWILLIAMS | |
|---|---|
 | |
| BIRTH DATE | July 29, 1973 (Belgrade, Serbia) |
| POSITION | Chairman, FDIC Board of Directors |
| EDUCATION | J.D., University of California Berkeley, 2002 B.A., Political Science and Mass Communications, University of California Berkeley, 1999 |
| EXPERIENCE | Government: 2018 - present: Chairman, FDIC Board of Directors (confirmed by Senate: May 24 (69-24)) 2012-17: Senate Banking Committee (senior counsel, chief counsel, deputy staff director) 2010-12: Senate Small Business Committee 2007-10: Federal Reserve Board of Governors (attorney, Division of Consumer and Community Affairs) Business Jan. 2017-present: Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati, Ohio (executive vice president, chief legal officer, corporate secretary) 2005-07: Hogan Lovell, Washington, D.C. 2002-05: Morrison & Foerster, Palo Alto, Calif. |