About Me

Once named by Time Magazine as “the little guy’s protector in chief,” Ms. Bair is a passionate advocate for strong consumer protections in financial services and educating the public on financial basics, starting at an early age. She also practiced what she preaches in raising her own, two children, who now, as adults, save regularly and live debt free. She is the author of Albert Whitman’s Money Tales picture book series, which includes Rock, Brock and the Savings Shock (2006), Isabel’s Car Wash (2008). Princess Persephone Loses the Castle (2021), Billy the Borrowing Blue-Footed Booby (2021) Shark Scam (2022), Princess Persephone’s Dragon Ride Stand (2022), Daisy Bubble (2023), and Money Wizards (2023). She also authored a book about the financial crisis for young adults, Bullies of Wall Street (Simon & Schuster, 2015). She has received awards from the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP), the Council on Economic Education (CEE), the JumpStart Coalition, and Institute for Financial Literacy for her educational writings.

Ms. Bair has had a long and distinguished career in government, academia, and finance. She is perhaps best known as Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) from 2006 to 2011, when she steered the agency through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. For her leadership of the FDIC, she received the JFK Library’s Profiles in Courage Award and was twice named by Forbes Magazine as the second most powerful woman in the world. A former finance professor and college president, Ms. Bair has been nationally recognized for her innovative initiatives to make college more accessible and affordable. She is a frequent commentator and op-ed contributor on financial regulation and the student debt crisis, and serves on CNBC’s Global Financial Wellness Advisory Board. She is also the author of Bull by the Horns (Simon & Schuster, 2012) her memoir of the financial crisis, which made the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post bestseller lists.

She is a trustee of Economists for Peace and Security, a group composed of some of the world’s most renowned economists and public servants dedicated to peace and world prosperity; a founding director of the Volcker Alliance, established by Former Federal Reserve Board Chair Paul Volcker to build trust in government, and the founding chair of the Systemic Risk Council, which monitors and advocates for reforms to promote financial stability. She also serves as a board member or advisor to a number of public companies.