Talk: FDIC Chair Sheila Bair
FDIC Chair Sheila Bair will speak at the UMass Amherst Isenberg School of Management on the mortgage crisis and its implications for financial regulatory policy. Bair has been on leave from the Isenberg School as Professor of Regulatory Policy since joining the FDIC in June of 2006. The campus community and public are invited to attend.
Last July, Forbes magazine ranked Bair as the second most powerful woman in the world behind German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In November, Bair topped The Wall Street Journal's roster of the year's 50 Women to Watch. Two months later, U.S. News & World Report named her the nation's 10th Top Market Mover.
Bair's role in the current financial crisis has been far-reaching. Last year, she oversaw the FDIC's takeover of IndyMacBank and of J.P. Morgan Chase's acquisition of Washington Mutual, the largest failed bank in U.S. history. In October, she successfully lobbied Congress to temporarily raise the cap on FDIC-insured deposits from $100,000 to $250,000.
In Washington, Bair was an early critic of sub-prime mortgage lending practices and has been a staunch advocate of debt relief for victimized homeowners. At the Isenberg School, she will offer her views on the mortgage crisis and describe her role as a key Washington policy maker in two Administrations.