Clay Lowery

Clay Lowery is the executive vice president for research and policy at the Institute of International Finance (IIF). In this role he serves on the IIF’s management team and oversees its economic research and regulatory and policy advocacy work. More recently, Mr. Lowery was a managing director at Rock Creek Global Advisors, an international economic policy advisory firm, where he focused on international financial regulation, sovereign debt, macroeconomic policies, exchange rates, and investment policy. Mr. Lowery advised multinational companies, financial institutions, and private equity firms on these matters. Previously, Mr. Lowery was vice president for international government affairs with Cisco Systems and managing director for the Glover Park Group. Mr. Lowery served as the assistant secretary for international affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department from 2005 to 2009. In that role, he managed a 200-person team responsible for economic and financial diplomacy, monetary and banking issues, currency strategy, and trade and investment practices. He chaired the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the government committee that reviews international mergers and acquisitions that may affect national security interests. He was the point person on U.S. policy toward sovereign wealth funds; served as the finance deputy to the G20, G7, International Monetary Fund, and the Financial Stability Forum; and was appointed by the president at various times to be the U.S. representative to the boards of the World Bank, African Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and Inter-American Development Bank. During his fifteen years of U.S. government service, Mr. Lowery held positions with the U.S. Treasury Department—including Paris Club debt negotiator and the deputy assistant secretary for debt and development finance; the National Security Council—director of international finance; and the Millennium Challenge Corporation—vice president of markets and sector assessments. Mr. Lowery is a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development. He was an adjunct professor at Georgetown University in international finance and a lecturer at the National War College. Mr. Lowery received his B.A. from the University of Virginia (Phi Beta Kappa) and his M.Sc. at the London School of Economics. In 2009, he was awarded the Alexander Hamilton prize, the highest U.S. Treasury Department honor.