INTERNATIONAL AND BUSINESS LAW PROGRAM COMPARATIVE LEGAL STUDIES (Re)assessing U.S. Economic and Financial Regulatory Policy in the Era of COVID and Beyond Thursday, October 22, 2020 12-1 PM EST Please click here for registration and bios of the panelists Gov. Sarah Bloom Raskin Former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury; Former Governor of the Federal Reserve Board Prof. Padideh Ala'i Prof. David Snyder Prof. V. Gerard Comizio Director, International Director, Business Law Associate Director, & Comparative Legal Program Business Law Program Studies (Moderator) (Re)assessing U.S. Economic and Financial Regulatory Policy in the Era of COVID and Beyond About the Panelists: Sarah Bloom Raskin Former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury; Former Governor of the Federal Reserve Board Sarah Bloom Raskin served as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, a position for which she was appointed by President Barak Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate, becoming “the highest-ranking woman in the history of the Treasury Department” (NY Times). Deputy Secretary Raskin served in that capacity from March 2014 to January 2017. As the second-in-command at Treasury, Deputy Secretary Raskin oversaw the entire Department and its various agencies, becoming widely known for her commitment to innovative solutions to enhance prosperity throughout America’s economy, for her commitment to ensure the ability of our country’s financial infrastructure to bounce back from sharp setbacks and downturns, and for her defense of consumer safeguards in the financial marketplace. Immediately prior to her confirmation as Deputy Secretary, the Honorable Sarah Bloom Raskin served as a Governor of the Federal Reserve Board where she helped steward the nation’s monetary policy to promote financial stability. As Governor of the Federal Reserve Board, she was also a permanently voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee. She was confirmed to the Federal Reserve by the United State Senate on September 30, 2010 and served until March 2014. In her capacity of Federal Reserve Governor, Ms. Raskin was known for her deep understanding of financial regulation, housing finance and foreclosure, and consumer protection. Before joining the Federal Reserve Board, Ms. Raskin served as the Commissioner of Financial Regulation for the State of Maryland from 2007 to 2010. As Commissioner, she led an agency responsible for regulating Maryland’s financial institutions, including all state-chartered depository institutions, banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders, mortgage service providers, and trust companies, among others. Throughout her career, Ms. Raskin has worked across public and private sectors in both legal and regulatory capacities. Her work has centered on financial institutions, financial market utilities, and consumer protection issues. Ms. Raskin’s private sector experience includes having served as Managing Director at the Promontory Financial Group, General Counsel of the WorldWide Retail Exchange, and General Counsel of Columbia Energy Services Corporation. Earlier in her career she served as Banking Counsel for the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Elevating Cybersecurity Within the United States and throughout the international community, Deputy Secretary Raskin has been a champion of cybersecurity in the financial sector, helping to elevate this critical issue to C-suites and boardrooms. Ms. Raskin lead the development of the G-7 Fundamental Elements of Cybersecurity pertaining to the Financial Sector, which contributed to a more secure and resilient system in the face of threats that are escalating in frequency, severity and sophistication. Prioritizing Resilience Deputy Secretary’s defining economic doctrine concerns “resilience”, the ability of individuals, households, firms, communities, businesses, and indeed nations worldwide to recover robustly from shocks of varying magnitude. Citing the crippling ripple-on effect of America’s 2008 financial crisis throughout the economic system from individuals to international institutions and government entities, Ms. Raskin is intent on crafting and implementing policies that enhance resilience through stronger cybersecurity protections, more effective protections of consumers, improved accountability for banks and financial service providers, and improved ways for families and individuals to benefit more proportionately from the contributions they make to a stable economy. Ms. Raskin has been widely recognized for her public service, and is much sought after by network and cable news media for her analysis and opinion regarding monetary policy, fiscal policy, consumer protection, and national security. Among the many forums she has addressed are the National Consumer Law Center, Women in Homeland Security, the New America Foundation, the Levy Economics Institute, the National Association of Business Economics, the Private Equity Growth Capital Council, the Ditchley Foundation, the Society of Government Economists, the Mid-Winter Housing Finance Conference, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, NeighborWorks America, several community banking groups, and numerous institutions of higher learning. Ms. Raskin’s academic affiliations include Duke University, the University of Maryland School of Law and Stanford University Graduate School of Business. She is a trustee and member of the Board of Directors of the Vanguard Funds and Vanguard Group Inc. Her governance responsibilities also include being a member of the Board of Directors of i(x) Investments, LLC, a member of the Board of Directors of the Reserve Trust Company, a trustee of Amherst College, and a trustee of the Folger Shakespeare Library. She is a graduate of Amherst College (Economics, Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude) and of Harvard Law School. Padideh Ala’i Director, International and Comparative Legal Studies Director, Hubert Humphrey Fellowship Program Director, Trade, Investment & Development Program Padideh Ala’i is a Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law (WCL). She specializes in international economic law, law of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and comparative legal traditions. She teaches international trade law and comparative law. Professor Alai’s scholarship has concentrated on the history of free trade, transparency obligations of the WTO and their implications on internal domestic transparency, universalizing the administrative state through the multilateral trading system, as well as good governance and evolution of international anti-corruption norms. In August 2017, Professor Ala’i was appointed Director of International and Comparative Legal Studies and Faculty Director of the International Legal Studies Program (ILSP). In her new role, she promotes, represents, and coordinates the law school’s renowned international programs that have been consistently ranked among some of the most prestigious programs in the United States. Professor Ala’i is also the Director of the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship Program at WCL, a Fulbright program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. The Program brings accomplished mid-career professionals from developing countries to the U.S for 10 months of non-degree study and professional development in the general field of law and human rights. In addition, since 2014, she has led the interdisciplinary Trade, Investment and Development Program (TID) that provides resources to students interested in linkage between trade and other disciplines such as intellectual property, environment, investment, labor and human rights. Professor Ala’i currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL). She is Associate Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law and Member of the Academic Board of the European Law Students’ Association/World Trade Organization Moot Court Competition. She is also Chair of the Organizing Committee of Wenger Family Lecture Series on International Trade Law at WCL, an endowment dedicated exclusively to international trade law education and training of young trade lawyers at WCL. She previously served as Co-Chair of the International Economic Law Group (IELG) of American Society of International Law (ASIL) and Co-Chair of the AALS Section on Comparative Law. Professor Ala’i received her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1988. Prior to joining the faculty of WCL, from 1988-1997, she was in private practice, representing governments from developing countries, as well as foreign companies in the United States. At Reichler, Milton & Medel (merged subsequently with Foley Hoag), from 1991-1997, she was part of the legal team representing the Government of the Philippines in international commercial arbitration and U.S. court litigation against Westinghouse Corporation for breach of contract and bribery of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. She also represented governments of Guyana, Tanzania, Uganda, and Philippines in negotiations with foreign investors, including in the context of privatization efforts and legal reforms proposed by the World Bank. During her tenure at Jones Day from 1988-1991, she specialized in corporate and international banking practice, advising foreign companies with respect to their U.S. banking-related activities, and representing such companies before regulatory banking agencies, specifically the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).