Former Treasury Undersecretary Jeff Shafer: Firefighting Between Financial Crises

A decade after the 2008 financial crisis, Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, and Hank Paulson came together to reflect on its lessons in their newest book Firefighting: The Financial Crisis and Its Lessons. The book is a powerful and detailed account of not just the brave actions those policymakers had to take, but also the political wisdom that deserves our respect and appreciation.

Secretary Shafer, who advised the Mexican financial crisis in 1994 and the East Asian financial crises at the end of 1990s, is also a “firefighter” whose career and insights could offer some powerful lessons on the global economy and financial system. In this interview, Secretary Shafer details his life lessons learned from being a student at Princeton to a policymaker at the Treasury.

Jeffrey R. Shafer is the former Vice Chairman of Citi's Global Banking and Senior Asia Pacific Officer in New York where he was responsible for key Asia Pacific government and corporate client relationships.
From 1993 to 1997, Shafer was Assistant Secretary and subsequently Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for International Affairs. At the Treasury Department, he was responsible for international economic and financial issues, focusing on strengthening economic growth and financial stability in both developed and developing countries. Shafer was also responsible for the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) process to review foreign investment in the United States. From 1984 until 1993, he held a series of high-level positions at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Prior to the OECD, he worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Council of Economic Advisors.

Sec. Jeff Shafer