Any of those choices would bring a significant change to the Treasury Department, which has been run by a white man throughout its 231-year history. But Ms. Brainard’s position in Washington’s establishment, and her centrist label, could help her chances of winning confirmation if Republicans retain control of the Senate. Ms. Brainard, 58, has been steeped in international relations from childhood. “Her breadth of knowledge is just really wide,” said Paige Gebhardt Cognetti, the mayor of Scranton, Pa., and Ms. Brainard’s former aide at the Treasury. Colleagues recall her perched at a meeting table in the Treasury Department during Chinese Strategic and Economic Dialogue meetings, surrounded by thick books of briefing material that she had evidently read in full.

Source: International New York Times November 10, 2020 19:33 UTC