Adrienne A. Harris

Adrienne A. Harris is a Professor of the Practice at the University of Michigan, as well as a Gates Foundation Senior Research Fellow with the Center for Finance, Law and Policy at the University. Her Fellowship focuses on the study of the Central Bank of the Future. Adrienne also advises fintech companies, incumbent financial institutions, and large venture capital firms.  Most recently, Adrienne was the Chief Business Officer and General Counsel a San Francisco-based, insur-tech start-up for which she is now an Advisor. She joined the company as a founding executive and was part of the team that acquired the sixth largest incumbent in the space, increasing her company’s value more than 10x in twenty months.  Adrienne currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Financial Health Network (formerly CFSI), the International Technology Advisory Panel (ITAP) for the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Bank Director FinXTech Advisory Board, as a Network Leader for Village Global, on the NYU Stern School of Business’ Fintech Advisory Board of the Fubon Center for Technology, Business, and Innovation, and as a Term Member on the Council of Foreign Relations.  Adrienne was a Special Assistant to President Obama for Economic Policy at the National Economic Council in the Obama White House, where her portfolio included financial reform, financial technology, cyber security, consumer protection, and housing finance reform. At the White House, Adrienne spearheaded the development of the Administration’s fintech strategy, chairing both the Interagency Fintech Working Group and the Administration’s Distributed Ledger Technology Task Force. She came to the White House from the U.S. Department of Treasury where she served as Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary.  Prior to coming to Washington, D.C., Adrienne was an Associate at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York, where her practice included representing financial institutions in complex regulatory proceedings and M&A transactions. While at the firm, Adrienne was tapped to serve as an advisor to numerous local, state and national political campaigns and transitions. From 2007 to 2008, she was a Judicial Clerk in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for the Honorable Stephen C. Robinson.  Adrienne earned her M.B.A. from the New York University Stern School of Business with specializations in Economics and Management, her J.D. from Columbia University Law School, where she was a member of the Columbia Law Review, and her B.A. from Georgetown University, where she was a John Carroll Scholar and graduated with honors.