Meet the Distinguished Fellows
Rostin Behnam served as the chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission after serving as both acting chairman and a commissioner from 2017 through 2025.
As chairman of the agency, Commissioner Behnam focused on transitioning the CFTC from the rule-writing era that dominated the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act to an agency that moves in lockstep within its mandate to address the issues presented by the rapidly evolving derivatives markets. With technology as a predominant driver of change, he has worked to implement rules and dedicate resources to enhance risk management and resilience, strengthen customer protections, promote efficiency and innovation, improve reporting and data policy, and promote international comity.
Behnam received his B.A. from Georgetown University and worked as a proprietary equities trader before pursuing a juris doctorate at Syracuse University. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with his wife and three children.
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Lael Brainard is an internationally recognized policymaker and economist who formerly served as director of the White House National Economic Council. Previously, she was the vice chair and member of the Federal Reserve Board and under secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury, where she received the Alexander Hamilton Award.
She has also served as chair of the Standing Committee on Assessment of Vulnerabilities of the International Financial Stability Board and as G7 sherpa for the United States. In these roles, she helped resolve several major financial crises in ways that protected American families and small businesses, while restoring financial stability and growth. Brainard has extensive senior leadership experience in macro, fiscal, and monetary policymaking, as well as in payments, global financial negotiations, and investment policy on semiconductors, AI, and energy.
Dr. Brainard was an associate professor of applied economics at MIT Sloan School of Management. She received her doctorate in economics at Harvard University. She was a National Science Fellow and was also awarded a White House Fellowship.
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Patrick McHenry served 10 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives as the congressman for North Carolina’s 10th Congressional District. McHenry was a member of the House Financial Services Committee, including serving as its lead Republican member and chairman from 2018 to 2024. McHenry drove a robust legislative agenda focused on cryptocurrency, capital formation, artificial intelligence, fintech, data privacy, and corporate governance issues, among other topics.
In addition to guiding the House Financial Services Committee, McHenry led the House of Representatives in October 2023, serving as the first-ever speaker pro tempore. During that time, McHenry worked to preserve the powers of the speakership while driving House Republicans toward consensus on a new speaker. McHenry also served as one of House Republicans’ lead negotiators in the spring of 2023 as they worked with the Biden Administration to pass the Fiscal Responsibility Act—a legislative package that achieved historic spending cuts and an increase in the debt ceiling, avoiding a catastrophic default.
McHenry is a native of Gastonia, North Carolina, and a graduate of Belmont Abbey College. He resides in Washington, D.C., with his wife and three children.
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