'Fed No. 2' Brainard Appointed Chair of US NEC

Husband is Coordinator Kurt Campbell

[Asia Economy Reporter Haeyoung Kwon] Lael Brainard, the second-in-command at the Federal Reserve (Fed), has been officially appointed as the chair of the National Economic Council (NEC), the White House's economic policy control tower.

The White House announced on the 14th (local time) that President Joe Biden appointed Vice Chair Brainard as the chair of the NEC.

Vice Chair Brainard served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during the Barack Obama administration from 2010 to 2013. President Biden was Vice President at that time. From 1990 to 1996, she also worked at the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) during President Bill Clinton's administration.

Kurt Campbell, the current Indo-Pacific Coordinator at the White House National Security Council (NSC), is her husband. As a result, the couple will be working together at the White House.

The NEC is responsible for coordinating policy decisions on domestic and international economic issues and advising the President on economic policy. It also ensures alignment between the President’s economic policy goals and policy decisions/programs, and monitors the implementation of the President’s economic policy agenda.

President Biden explained, "Lael, one of the United States' top macroeconomists, has experience working at the CEA, NEC, Treasury Department, and the Fed," adding, "She possesses tremendous depth of expertise in both domestic and international economics."

Additionally, the White House announced plans to appoint Jared Bernstein, a CEA member, as the chair of the CEA. The CEA consists of a chair and two members and advises the President on economic policy. Bernstein served as Senior Economist to Vice President Biden during the Obama administration and later worked at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a think tank, from 2011 to 2021.