On May 12th former Chair of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Sheila Bair delivered the tenth Marjorie Deane Lecture to students on the MA in Business and Economic Reporting course at New York University that the Foundation supports to share key insights into the economy, credit and debt.

Sheila’s long and distinguished career extends into government, academia and finance. She was twice named Forbes second-most powerful woman in the world. Between 2006 and 2011 at the FDIC, she is she is credited with steering the country away from the worst debt crisis since the Great Depression.

Sheila has been awarded Kennedy Library’s Profiles In Courage Award and serves on a number of boards, including founding director of the Volcker Alliance. Her 2012 memoir on the financial crisis, Bull by the Horns, is a New York Times bestseller. She also writes Albert Whitman’s Money Tales, a financial series for young people. Sheila frequently comments on financial regulation and the student debt crisis for publications and is an active trustee for Economists for Peace.

Sheila spoke to the students about navigating the 2008 recession amidst brutal mortgage lending and insufficient regulations and the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. Students asked questions about how best to report on banking, as well as how private equity and insurance impacts the FDIC’s job.