Sameera Fazili is an American attorney and public official who served as a deputy director of the National Economic Council in the Biden administration.[1][2] A noted community development finance expert, Fazili previously served as Director of Engagement for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.[3]
Sameera Fazili | |
|---|---|
 Fazili in 2021 | |
| Deputy Director of the National Economic Council for Manufacturing, Innovation and Domestic Competition | |
| In office January 20, 2021 – December 2, 2022 | |
| President | Joe Biden |
| Director | Brian Deese |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Williamsville, New York |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Education | Harvard University (BA) Yale University (JD) |
Early life
editBorn in Williamsville, New York, Fazili is a native of Buffalo.[4] Fazili is the daughter of Dr. Mohammad Yusuf Fazili and Dr. Rafiqa Fazili, who immigrated to the United States from the Valley of Kashmir.[1] After attending Elmwood Franklin School, Fazili graduated from the Nichols School in 1996.[5][6]
Fazili earned a bachelor's degree in social sciences from Harvard College, graduating with magna cum laude. She later obtained her Juris Doctor (JD) from Yale Law School.[1][7]
Career
editFazili started as a clinical lecturer at Yale Law School's community and economic development unit. She expanded the clinic's work to international microfinance and helped start a community development financial institution (CDFI) bank. She also worked at a CDFI bank called ShoreBank, said to be the first such bank in the US.[1]
Later Fazili worked in the US Treasury Department on issues related to CDFIs, housing finance and small business finance. She was also a senior adviser and chief of staff to Treasury's Under Secretary for International Affairs.[3]
National Economic Council
editFazili served in the Obama administration as a senior policy adviser in the National Economic Council, where she covered retirement, consumer finance and community and economic development issues.[3][8] Afterwards, she worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta as the Director of Engagement in its community and economic development department.[3]
As a deputy director of the National Economic Council in the Biden administration, Fazili focused on manufacturing, innovation and domestic competition.[9] In this capacity, she was tasked with advising the White House on global supply chain issues.[4] Fazili left her position at the NEC in December 2022.[10]
Human rights advocacy
editBefore law school, Fazili worked at Karamah: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights. Her experience in human rights includes working at the World Health Organization and United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), on missions in Palestine, Kashmir, and Pakistan. She is an activist for religious freedom and international human rights.[7]
Fazili has supported 'Stand with Kashmir', a Kashmiri diaspora-led international solidarity movement, and has opposed the Indian government's revocation of the special status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.[11]
Personal life
editFazili is married and has three children. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia[1] and has extended family in Kashmir, India.[12] Fazili is a practicing Muslim.[13]
Her sister, Yousra Fazili is a noted human rights lawyer who testified at the November 2019 US congressional hearing on the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.[14] Fazili's cousin Mubeel Shah was among those detained by the Indian government the Public Safety Act (PSA) during the 2019–2021 lockdown in Jammu & Kashmir.[15]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Tahir Bhat (January 15, 2021), "Biden Aide Sameera Fazili's Parents Wanted Her To Be A Doctor, She Left Medical School To Join Yale", Kashmir Life
- ^ Biden supply chain adviser to leave White House, Politico, 1 December 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Sameera Fazili, JD". Policies for Action (A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Programme). Archived from the original on January 28, 2021. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
- ^ a b Thompson, Alex; Sfondeles, Tina (October 6, 2021). "Can Sameera save Christmas?". POLITICO. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ^ Reporter, Harold McNeil News Staff (January 15, 2021). "Biden appoints Elmwood Franklin alum as deputy director of National Economic Council". The Buffalo News. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
- ^ "Sameera Fazili '96 Named Deputy Director of National Economic Council". Nichols School. January 19, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
- ^ a b Sameera Fazili, Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality & Equality, retrieved January 19, 2021.
- ^ White House Senior Staff: Sameera Fazili, Biden-Harris Transition, retrieved January 19, 2021.
- ^ "Who are the Indian-Americans in US President Joe Biden's administration". The Times of India. January 20, 2021.
- ^ Lippman, Daniel (December 1, 2022). "Biden supply chain adviser to leave White House". Politico. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
- ^ Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, Joe Biden's economic council pick Sameera Fazili was part of protests against Article 370 abrogation, The Economic Times, 18 January 2021.
- ^ ‘She has a strong affinity with Kashmir’, says kin of Sameera Fazili[usurped], The Kashmir Walla, 17 January 2021.
- ^ "Reflections on a Muslim Official in American Public Life". Religious Freedom Institute. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ^ "In Biden team, a cousin of man held in J&K under PSA post-August 5". The Indian Express. January 24, 2021.
- ^ "In Biden team, a cousin of man held in J&K under PSA post-August 5". The Indian Express. January 24, 2021. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
External links
edit- Sameera Fazili: Faces of the Atlanta Fed, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, 17 August 2017.
- Appearances on C-SPAN