FINANCIAL LITERACY AND EDUCATION COMMISSION

November 18, 2015 

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Jacob J. Lew

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury

Jack Lew was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 27, 2013, to serve as the 76th Secretary of the 

Treasury. Secretary Lew previously served as White House Chief of Staff. Prior to that role, Lew was the Director 

of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a position he also held in President Clinton's Cabinet from 1998 

to 2001. Before returning to OMB in 2010, Lew first joined the Obama Administration as Deputy Secretary of 

State for Management and Resources.

Before joining the State Department, Lew served as managing director and chief operating officer for two 

different Citigroup business units. Prior to that, he was executive vice president and chief operating officer of 

New York University, where he was responsible for budget, finance, and operations, and served as a professor of 

public administration. From 2004 through 2008, Lew served on the Board of Directors of the Corporation for 

National and Community Service and chaired its Management, Administration, and Governance Committee.

As OMB Director from 1998 to 2001, Lew led the Administration budget team and served as a member of the 

National Security Council. During his tenure at OMB, the U.S. budget operated at a surplus for three consecutive 

years. Earlier, Lew served as OMB's Deputy Director and was a member of the negotiating team that reached a 

bipartisan agreement to balance the budget. As Special Assistant to President Clinton from 1993 to 1994, Mr. 

Lew helped design Americorps, the national service program.

Lew began his career in Washington in 1973 as a legislative aide. From 1979 to 1987, he was a principal 

domestic policy advisor to House Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr, when he served the House Democratic Steering 

and Policy Committee as Assistant Director and then Executive Director. He was the Speaker's liaison to the 

Greenspan Commission, which negotiated a bipartisan solution to extend the solvency of Social Security in 1983, 

and he was responsible for domestic and economic issues, including Medicare, budget, tax, trade, appropriations, 

and energy issues.

Before joining the Obama Administration, Lew co-chaired the Advisory Board for City Year New York and was 

on the boards of the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Brookings 

Institution Hamilton Project, and the Tobin Project. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the 

National Academy of Social Insurance, and of the bar in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.
Richard Cordray

Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Richard Cordray serves as the first Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He previously led the 

Bureau’s Enforcement Division.

Prior to joining the Bureau, Mr. Cordray served on the front lines of consumer protection as Ohio’s Attorney 

General. Mr. Cordray recovered more than $2 billion for Ohio’s retirees, investors, and business owners and took 

major steps to help protect its consumers from fraudulent foreclosures and financial predators. In 2010, his office 

responded to a record number of consumer complaints, but Mr. Cordray went further and opened that process for 

the first time to small businesses and non-profit organizations to ensure protections for even more Ohioans. To 

recognize his work on behalf of consumers as Attorney General, the Better Business Bureau presented Mr. 

Cordray with an award for promoting an ethical marketplace.

Mr. Cordray also served as Ohio Treasurer and Franklin County Treasurer, two elected positions in which he led 

state and county banking, investment, debt, and financing activities. As Ohio Treasurer, he resurrected a defunct 

economic development program that provides low-interest loan assistance to small businesses to create jobs, relaunched the original concept as GrowNOW, and pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into access for credit to 

small businesses. Mr. Cordray simultaneously created a Bankers Advisory Council to share ideas about the 

program with community bankers across Ohio.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Cordray was an adjunct professor at the Ohio State University College of Law, served as 

a State Representative for the 33rd Ohio House District, was the first Solicitor General in Ohio’s history, and was 

a sole practitioner and Of Counsel to Kirkland & Ellis. Mr. Cordray has argued seven cases before the United 

States Supreme Court, including by special appointment of both the Clinton and Bush Justice Departments. He is 

a graduate of Michigan State University, Oxford University, and the University of Chicago Law School. Mr. 

Cordray was Editor-in-Chief of the University of Chicago Law Review and later clerked for U.S. Supreme Court 

Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy.

Mr. Cordray lives in Grove City, Ohio with his wife Peggy – a Professor at Capital University Law School in 

Columbus – and twin children Danny and Holly.
Carolyn W. Colvin

Acting Commissioner of Social Security

On June 20, 2014, President Obama nominated Carolyn W. Colvin as the Commissioner of Social Security. Since 

February 14, 2013, Carolyn W. Colvin has served as the Acting Commissioner. Prior to this designation, she 

served as the Deputy Commissioner, confirmed by the United States Senate on December 22, 2010 as President 

Obama’s nominee. In addition to her role as the Acting Commissioner of Social Security, Ms. Colvin serves as a 

Trustee to the Social Security Board of Trustees.

Throughout her career, Ms. Colvin has managed programs that help people with their healthcare and financial 

needs. She previously held key executive positions at Social Security Headquarters: Deputy Commissioner for 

Policy and External Affairs (1994–1996), Deputy Commissioner for Programs and Policy (1996–1998), and 

Deputy Commissioner for Operations (1998–2001).

Prior to returning to SSA, Ms. Colvin was the Director of Human Services for the District of Columbia (2001-

2003); the Director of the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services (2003-2007); the 

Chief Executive Officer of AMERIGROUP Community Care of the District of Columbia (2007–2008); and, the 

Special Assistant to the Secretary of Maryland’s Department of Transportation (2009-2011). In addition, Ms. 

Colvin served as the Secretary of Maryland’s Department of Human Resources (1989-1994).

Ms. Colvin has received numerous awards and recognition for her managerial expertise and creativity. These 

awards include the Innovations in Aging Leadership Award presented by the Maryland, Virginia and District of 

Columbia Departments of Aging (2012); The Clifford R. Gross Award for Outstanding Federal Government 

Public Service presented by the Maryland Chapter of the American Society of Public Administration (2012); 

Maryland’s Top 100 Women Award from the Daily Record (2005); and, The Women of Achievement Award 

from Suburban Maryland Business and Professional Women (2005). She has served on a variety of boards and 

commissions, including the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

Ms. Colvin earned her graduate and undergraduate degrees in business administration from Morgan State 

University. Additionally, she completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at 

Harvard University, the Maryland Leadership Program, and the Greater Baltimore Leadership Program. Ms. 

Colvin is from Maryland and currently resides in Anne Arundel County. She has one son and six grandchildren.
Amias Gerety

Acting Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Amias Gerety serves as the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Financial 

Institutions. In this role, Mr. Gerety is responsible for developing and coordinating Treasury’s policies on a wide 

range of issues affecting financial institutions from cybersecurity for the financial system to consumer policy, and 

from large, complex financial institutions to community banks. Mr. Gerety is also responsible for overseeing 

several Treasury Department programs including the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) 

Fund, the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), and the Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF).

He previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Financial Stability Oversight Council and as Senior 

Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions. He joined Treasury in January 2009, and was 

nominated by President Obama to serve as Assistant Secretary in February 2015. Prior to joining Treasury, Mr. 

Gerety was a management consultant at Oliver Wyman. He also worked for the domestic policy staff during John 

Kerry’s Presidential campaign and for the Center for American Progress.

Mr. Gerety received his B.A. from Harvard College.

Melissa Koide

Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Consumer Policy, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Melissa Koide serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Consumer Policy. In this role, she is responsible for 

matters concerning financial access, financial education, and consumer policy in the United States. She also 

served as the Executive Director for the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young 

Americans and supports the Secretary in his leadership of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission. 

Prior to joining Treasury, Ms. Koide was the Vice President of Policy at the Center for Financial Services 

Innovation.

Richard Ludlow

Executive Director, myRA Program, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Richard Ludlow serves as Executive Director of the myRA program within the US Department of Treasury. He 

comes to myRA with experience as a founder and executive in Silicon Valley, where he managed the launch and 

growth of new initiatives in education and healthcare. 

Richard is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School.
Lori Schock

Director of Investor Education and Advocacy, U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission

The Office of Investor Education and Advocacy serves individual investors, ensuring that their problems and 

concerns are known throughout the SEC and are considered when the agency takes action. Investor assistance 

specialists within the Office answer questions, analyze complaints, and seek informal resolution of investors’ 

problems. The Office also publishes free brochures and other educational materials on numerous investing topics.

Ms. Schock returned to the Commission in 2009 as the Director of the Office of Investor Education and 

Advocacy. In that capacity, she focuses primarily on investor education initiatives and provides advice on policy 

matters relating to investor protection. Ms. Schock joined the Commission in 2001 as a Staff Attorney and held 

various positions of increasing responsibility during her tenure including Acting Director, Deputy Director and 

Special Counsel to the Director.

Before returning to the Commission, Ms. Schock worked for FINRA’s Office of Investor Education and the 

Center for Audit Quality. She received her Juris Doctorate and Master’s of Taxation from the University of 

Akron and her Bachelor of Arts from Furman University.

Leandro Carvalho, Ph.D.

Economist, Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) at the University of Southern California

Leandro Carvalho is an economist at the Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) at the University of 

Southern California. Dr. Carvalho’s research investigates individual and environmental characteristics that lead to 

bad decision-making. Some of his recent work examines how financial circumstances (Carvalho, Meier, and 

Wang, forthcoming), complexity (Carvalho and Silverman, 2015), and education (Banks, Carvalho and PerezArce, 2015) affect the quality of financial decisions. Dr. Carvalho has a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton 

University.

Gary R. Mottola, Ph.D.

Research Director, FINRA Investor Education Foundation

Gary R. Mottola is the Research Director of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation and a social psychologist 

with over 20 years of research experience, more than a decade of which was spent in the financial services 

industry. In his role at FINRA, he oversees and conducts research projects aimed at improving financial 

capability in America –particularly among vulnerable populations—and protecting investors from financial fraud 

and investment scams. Dr. Mottola received his B.A. from the University at Albany, his M.A. from Brooklyn 

College and his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware. He was a visiting scholar at Wharton in 2006 and is also 

an adjunct professor of statistics in Villanova University’s Economics and Statistics Department. 
Will Tucker

Fellow, White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team

Will Tucker is a Fellow on the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (SBST). He is also Vice 

President at the design firm ideas42. He's managed large-scale behavioral economics projects with Fortune 500 

companies and government agencies from the Department of Defense to the New York Police Department. His 

work has been published in the Sage Handbook of Measurement and the Harvard Business Review. A Truman 

Scholar, Will holds a Master in Public Affairs and a Certificate in Science, Technology, and Environmental 

Policy from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, and has worked at the Office of Management and 

Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.