Sheila Bair

Sheila Bair
Born	Sheila Colleen Bair (1954-04-03) April 3, 1954 Independence, Kansas, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Government official, academic, author
Years active	1981–present
Known for	19th Chairperson of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), president of Washington College
Notable work	Bull by the Horns: Fighting to Save Main Street from Wall Street and Wall Street from Itself

Sheila Colleen Bair (born April 3, 1954) is a former American government official who held the position of the 19th Chairperson of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) from 2006 until 2011. Soon after taking office in June 2006, she raised concerns about systemic dangers linked to subprime mortgage-backed securities and was instrumental in shaping the federal government's response during the 2008 financial crisis. Appointed by George W. Bush for a five-year term, she guided the FDIC through a period of significant financial instability until July 8, 2011.

After concluding her leadership at the FDIC, Bair served as the 28th president of Washington College in Chestertown, MD, holding the distinction of being the institution’s first female president from 2015 to 2017.

Early life

Bair was born in Independence, Kansas, into a Lutheran household. Her father, Albert (1916–2008), who had German ancestry, worked as a surgeon, while her mother Clara (1921–2017) was both a nurse and homemaker. Albert also contributed to local governance through his roles on the Independence School Board and City Council. Bair completed a bachelor’s degree in philosophy at the University of Kansas in 1975 and briefly held a bank teller position before earning her J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1978. In 1981, Senator Bob Dole recruited her to join his Washington staff as counsel.

In 1990, Bair sought election to the United States House of Representatives to replace retiring Congressman Bob Whittaker, but she was narrowly defeated in the Republican primary by banker Dick Nichols.

Pre-FDIC career

Prior to her FDIC appointment, Bair was Dean's Professor of Financial Regulatory Policy at the Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst beginning in 2002. Her previous roles included Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the U.S. Department of the Treasury (2001–2002), Senior Vice President for Government Relations at the New York Stock Exchange (1995–2000), Commissioner and Acting Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (1991–1995), and counsel to Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (1981–1988).

During her academic tenure, she also participated on the FDIC's Advisory Committee on Banking Policy. Her professional journey started within the General Counsel’s office at the former U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

FDIC tenure

On June 26, 2006, George W. Bush appointed Bair as the 19th Chair of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). She concluded her service at the FDIC on July 8, 2011, upon completion of her five-year term. In August 2011, she took on a senior advisory role at The Pew Charitable Trusts and holds the position of chair emerita for the Systemic Risk Council, a volunteer organization dedicated to overseeing financial regulation. Her book Bull by the Horns: Fighting to Save Main Street from Wall Street and Wall Street from Itself, released in September 2012, achieved bestseller status in both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Additionally, she has written several children’s books within the Money Tales series aimed at enhancing financial literacy.

Career after FDIC

In May 2015, Bair was named president of Washington College, marking the institution’s first female presidency in its 234-year history. During her tenure, she launched initiatives aimed at reducing student debt, including "Fixedfor4," which guarantees tuition rates for four consecutive years, and "Dam the Debt," a scholarship program designed to assist graduates with federal loan repayments. She stepped down from this role on June 30, 2017, citing the need to balance professional responsibilities with family commitments.

Following her departure from public service, Bair has held board memberships at several corporations such as Bunge Limited, Lion Electric Company, and Fannie Mae. In November 2020, she broke new ground as Fannie Mae’s first female Chair of the board. Her previous directorships include Host Hotels & Resorts, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (2017–2020), Thomson Reuters, and Santander Bank. Her selection for Santander's board attracted criticism due to perceived contradictions with her previously expressed views on the regulatory-industry revolving door. Beyond corporate roles, Bair contributes to nonprofit organizations including the Volcker Alliance, Center for Responsible Lending, RAND Corporation, and National Women's Law Center.

In 2021, she joined an advisory panel for the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation (IFRS) tasked with establishing the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), which focuses on harmonizing global climate-related financial disclosures. That same year, she was appointed trustee of Economists for Peace and Security, an organization dedicated to addressing issues at the intersection of economics, peacebuilding, and conflict resolution.

Personal background

Bair is married to Scott P. Cooper and they have two children named Preston and Colleen.

Role in the 2008 financial crisis

During the 2008 financial crisis, Bair was instrumental in shaping the government’s response, collaborating with—and at times challenging—Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and New York Federal Reserve President Tim Geithner. She played a vital role in drafting key elements of the 2010 Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

After assuming the FDIC chairmanship in June 2006, Bair sounded early alarms about systemic risks posed by subprime mortgage-backed securities. In 2007, she privately urged industry leaders to adjust terms on adjustable-rate mortgages to prevent foreclosures that could threaten economic stability—a position she later articulated publicly through a New York Times opinion piece.

Within the Bush administration, her push for mortgage modifications often clashed with Treasury officials skeptical of their effectiveness. She resisted numerous government bailout efforts, instead advocating for holding institutions accountable through asset divestitures, leadership changes, and returning entities to private control—mirroring FDIC approaches used with smaller banks. Bair criticized the "too big to fail" policy for fostering risky behavior by implying government bailouts were guaranteed. She championed enforcing "market discipline," where investors such as shareholders and bondholders bear losses when firms collapse.

Bair also opposed the Federal Reserve’s implementation of Basel II advanced methodologies that permitted banks to use internal models to determine capital requirements. Following the crisis, she pressed the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision to adopt more stringent capital and leverage standards and successfully advocated for an international 'Leverage Ratio'—a non-risk-weighted capital requirement applying across all bank assets alongside traditional risk-based measures.

The Troubled Asset Relief Program incorporated a mortgage relief component partially inspired by Bair’s loan modification recommendations. Numerous provisions in Dodd–Frank aligned with her priorities, including expanded FDIC authority to seize large financial institutions, station agency examiners onsite at firms, recoup executive compensation tied to failures, and mandate banks to prepare 'Living Wills' outlining orderly resolution plans.

In popular media, Patricia Randell portrayed Bair in HBO's 2011 film Too Big to Fail, adapted from Andrew Ross Sorkin's book.

2020 COVID-19 pandemic

In March 2020, Bair called on the Federal Reserve to ensure that credit continued to flow to American businesses and workers affected by the coronavirus crisis. Through an op-ed in the Financial Times, she recommended that banks deemed systemically important halt discretionary bonuses, dividend payments, and share repurchases to mitigate financial setbacks. At the same time, she emphasized the need for these institutions to expand their balance sheets to facilitate greater lending to businesses during the pandemic. Following her advice, both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank urged their respective banks to adopt similar measures.

Publications

• Bull by the Horns: Fighting to Save Main Street from Wall Street and Wall Street from Itself (Free Press, 2012)
• Isabel's Car Wash (Albert Whitman & Co., 2008)
• Rock, Brock, and the Savings Shock (Albert Whitman & Co., 2006)
• The Bullies of Wall Street (Simon & Schuster, 2015)
• Billy the Borrowing Blue-Footed Booby (Albert Whitman & Co., 2021)
• Princess Persephone Loses the Castle (Albert Whitman & Co., 2021)
• Shark Scam (Albert Whitman & Co., 2022)
• Princess Persephone's Dragon Ride Stand (Albert Whitman & Co., 2022)