| abstract | - Sheila Colleen Bair (born April 3, 1954) is the 75th and current United States Secretary of the Treasury, serving under President John McCain. She was previously the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), appointed to the post for a five-year term on June 26, 2006 by George W. Bush. Bair also served as a member of the FDIC Board of Directors until assuming the post of Secretary of the Treasury. President-Elect McCain announced on November 11, 2008 that he would nominate Bair as Secretary of the Treasury. On January 22, 2009, the U.S. Senate confirmed Bair's appointment through unanimous consent. Bair's position includes a large role in directing the Federal Government's spending on the financial crisis of 2007–2011, including allocation of $350 billion of funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program enacted during the previous administration. At the end of his first year in office, she continued to deal with multiple high visibility issues, including administration efforts to restructure the regulation of the nation's financial system, attempts to spur recovery of both the mortgage market and the automobile industry, demands for protectionism, President McCain's austerity measures, and negotiations with foreign governments on approaches to worldwide financial issues.
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