Sheila Bair

Sheila C. Bair ( born April 3, 1954) is an American economist. She was from 2006 to 2011, the 19th chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ( FDIC ), the Deposit Protection Fund of the United States.

She received her bachelor's degree at the University of Kansas (1975 ) and a doctorate at the University of Kansas School of Law (1978). Between 2001 and 2002 she served in the U.S. Treasury as Assistan Secretary with responsibility for the financial markets. From 2002 to 2006 she lectured at the University of Massachusetts Amherst fiscal policy. Incidentally she is a children's book author. After the expiry of five-year term, she left the FDIC in summer 2011; her successor was Martin J. Gruenberg.

Forbes magazine has named the 2008 and 2009 second most powerful woman in the world.