Smith Professor Michael Faulkender Nominated for Deputy US Treasury Secretary

Dean’s Professor of Finance Michael Faulkender of the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business was selected by President-elect Donald Trump on Dec. 4, 2024, to be United States deputy secretary of the Treasury, the number two position at the department.

Pending Senate confirmation, Faulkender returns to the department where he served as chief economist and assistant secretary for economic policy from 2019-2021. In that role, he advised the Treasury secretary on domestic and international issues that impacted the economy.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he negotiated critical relief through the CARES Act. The legislation resulted in Faulkender implementing the Payment Protection Program (PPP), subsequently referenced by a Fed economist as “a very large and very timely fiscal-policy intervention … distributing $800 billion well within two years of the onset of the COVID-19 crisis.” Faulkender’s research with two of his former Treasury colleagues estimates the job savings from PPP were approximately 14 million.

In 2021, he was awarded the Alexander Hamilton Award for Distinguished Leadership, the highest service award granted at the Treasury Department. 

If confirmed, Faulkender’s role would expand to other areas, including sanctions policy, financial markets regulation, tax policy and the $28 trillion Treasury debt market.

At the end of the first Trump administration Faulkender returned to the Smith School, which he joined as a faculty member in 2008. He has taught corporate finance in the full-time, part-time and executive MBA programs and the Master of Finance program and is the recipient of numerous teaching awards. His research lies at the intersection of financial economics and public policy. Examples include the job impacts of the PPP, corporate capital structure, risk management, corporate liquidity, and executive compensation. His work has been published in top academic finance journals, received numerous “best paper” awards, and has been cited in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and The New York Times, among others.

In 2024 he created and hosted a Finance Grand Challenges Speaker Series at the Smith School, which featured prominent national figures in the world of finance. In the last three years, he has been invited to provide expert testimony before Congress eight times including the Joint Economic Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.

"This is a matter of pride for the Smith School," says Dean Prabhudev C. Konana. "Mike's unmatched expertise and academic brilliance are bound to make an extraordinary impact on the nation."

Read more from Michael Faulkender’s faculty directory page.