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A University of Maryland professor was selected by President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday to be United States deputy secretary of the Treasury, the No. 2 position at the department.
Pending Senate confirmation, Dean’s Professor of Finance Michael Faulkender of the Robert H. Smith School of Business returns to the department where he served as chief economist and assistant secretary for economic policy from 2019-21. In that role, he advised the Treasury secretary on domestic and international issues that impacted the economy.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he negotiated critical relief through the CARES Act. The legislation resulted in Faulkender implementing the Payment Protection Program (PPP), subsequently referenced by a Fed economist as “a very large and very timely fiscal-policy intervention … distributing $800 billion well within two years of the onset of the COVID-19 crisis.” Faulkender’s research with two of his former Treasury colleagues estimates the job savings from PPP were approximately 14 million.
In 2021, he was recognized with the Alexander Hamilton Award for Distinguished Leadership, the highest service honor at the Department of the Treasury.
If confirmed, Faulkender’s role would expand to other areas, including sanctions policy, financial markets regulation, tax policy and the $28 trillion Treasury debt market.
Since joining the Smith School faculty in 2008, Faulkender has taught corporate finance in the full-time, part-time and executive MBA programs and the Master of Finance program and has received numerous teaching awards. His research, which lies at the intersection of financial economics and public policy, has been published in top academic finance journals and been cited in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The New York Times, among others.
In 2024 he created and hosted a Finance Grand Challenges Speaker Series at the Smith School, which featured prominent national figures in the world of finance. In the last three years, he has been invited to provide expert testimony before Congress eight times.
"This is a matter of pride for the Smith School," says Dean Prabhudev C. Konana. "Mike's unmatched expertise and academic brilliance are bound to make an extraordinary impact on the nation."
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