Ellen Lazar joined the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in
June 2009 as Senior Advisor to the Chairman for Consumer Policy.
Ms. Lazar provides FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair with advice and expertise on a wide variety of consumer issues, policies and programs. She offers counsel on the legal and policy aspects of FDIC activities, particularly those related to community development, affordable housing and consumer protection.
Ms. Lazar serves as the lead advisor to Chairman Bair on issues before the FDIC’s Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion. Her many responsibilities include overseeing the development of policy proposals to implement Committee recommendations.
Ms. Lazar’s experience in consumer protection and community development matters is far-reaching. Prior to joining the FDIC, she was a partner at Venture Philanthropy Partners (VPP), a philanthropic organization that invests in nonprofit institutions that serve children and youth in the Washington, D.C., region. Previously, she served as Senior Vice President for Housing and Community Initiatives at the Fannie Mae Foundation, where she was responsible for grant-making and management of the Foundation’s national, regional and Washington offices.
Additionally, Ms. Lazar served as Executive Director of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation (dba NeighborWorks America), a nonprofit corporation that works to revitalize rural and urban communities by mobilizing public, private and community resources at the neighborhood level. Before her time with the NRC, she was Director of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Ms. Lazar held leadership positions at the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders and Enterprise Community Partners, where she served as Chief Administrative Officer, Vice President and General Counsel. She was also Assistant General Counsel with the National Corporation for Housing Partnerships and served in the Office of General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Ms. Lazar has also served in leadership roles on several national and local boards of affordable housing and community development organizations.
Ms. Lazar is a graduate of Queens College of the City University of New York and of the Indiana University School of Law at Bloomington.