The Most Powerful Women You've Never Heard Of

Lael Brainard (Treasury undersecretary for international affairs, United States):

While Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's attention is focused on the U.S. economy, tackling the brush fires of global economic calamity has fallen to Lael Brainard. The Harvard-trained economist was born in 1962 and raised in communist Poland as the daughter of a U.S. foreign-service officer. She later went on to serve on the National Economic Council during Bill Clinton's administration, working on the U.S. response to the Mexican peso and Asian financial crises. During President Barack Obama's administration, Lael has been consumed with Europe's financial corruption, shuffling back and forth between Washington and European capitals in an effort to convince leaders to prop up failing economies and to avoid further spread. Lael has brought tireless diplomatic energy to the job.