Jacob “Jack” Lew

He spent over seven years working for O'Neill on the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee as assistant director and later executive director. Lew served as liaison to the famous Greenspan Commission, which, between 1981 and 1983, reached a landmark bipartisan agreement to reform Social Security to ensure its continued solvency. ''He took away from that experience the best of Tip O'Neill - using power as an instrument to help people,'' John D. Podesta, the former White House chief of staff who helped run Obama's transition team told the New York Times in 1999.

Lew has also worked as executive director of the Center for Middle East Research, issues director for the Democratic National Committee's Campaign 88, and deputy director of the Office of Program Analysis in the city of Boston's Office of Management and Budget.

A member of the bar in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., Lew spent five years as an attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C. at the law firm Van Ness, Feldman, where he focused on administrative and transactional issues related to power plant development.

Clinton Administration

Lew joined the Clinton administration in February 1993 as special assistant to the president. In that role Lew was responsible for policy development and the drafting of the national service initiative and health care reform.

In October 1994, he moved to OMB where he served as executive associate director and as associate director for legislative affairs.

In August of 1995, Lew was promoted to deputy director of OMB. He served as deputy director until May 1998 when he became acting director. Lew was confirmed as OMB director on July 31, 1998.

Banker and Academic

As COO of Citi Alternative Investments beginning in June 2006, Lew oversaw operations, technology, human resources, legal, finance and regional coordination for that division. Before going to Citi, Lew was executive vice president and chief operating officer of New York University, where he oversaw the school's budget, finance and operations.

In 2008, Lew received $1.1 million in salary and discretionary cash compensation as a managing director of the banking giant - which took tens of millions of dollars in government bailout money - and he earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in restricted stock upon his departure, according to documents.

Since working for Clinton, Lew has taught at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute and served as executive vice president of New York University. Although he had tense relations with the union of graduate student teaching assistants, his selection by Obama has not engendered any public criticism from organized labor.

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