Washington College President Sheila Bair—the former chair of the FDIC, a New York Times bestselling author, and twice named by Forbes magazine the second most powerful woman in the world—will be the guest speaker at the College’s annual J.C. Jones, Jr. Seminar in American Business on April 7.

Bair, who was inaugurated in September 2015 as Washington College’s 28th president, will offer remarks on the financial crisis at the free, public event at 4 p.m. in Decker Theatre, Gibson Center for the Arts. Her talk, which is sponsored by the Department of Business Management, will be followed by a reception at 5 p.m. in the Underwood Lobby, courtesy of the Washington College Sustainable Finance Initiative and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

President George W. Bush in 2006 appointed Bair to lead the FDIC during one of our nation’s most challenging periods. She was one of the first officials to warn about the damage the growing subprime mortgage crisis would pose to millions of homeowners and the economy at large. Consumer advocates praised her relentless efforts to represent the interests of homeowners, bank customers, and taxpayers.

She helped shape and implement the Dodd-Frank Act, which gave the FDIC expanded power to “wind down” rather than bail out a failing bank, and created the Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion to bring banking services to underserved populations. 

In 2011, the Washington Post and Harvard University named her as one of America’s seven top leaders. She earned the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, the Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award, and the Better Business Bureau’s Presidents’ Award. Forbes twice named her the second most powerful woman in the world, behind Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel. 

Bair chronicled her five years at the FDIC in Bull by the Horns: Fighting to Save Main Street from Wall Street and Wall Street from Itself, a New York Times bestseller published in September 2012. A prolific writer, she is a regular contributor to Fortune and has written three books for children that offer lessons in financial literacy.  

Bair will join a list of distinguished guests who have led the Jones Seminar since its inception in 1978. Among those who have spoken are economist Woody Brock, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Tom Connelly, former executive vice president of E.I. du pont de Nemours and Company.

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Watch a live stream at http://bit.ly/1W6JRGN