William M. Daley

William Michael Daley (born on August 8, 1948) is an American lawyer, politician and former banker.

He graduated from St. Ignatius College Prep in 1966, with a B.A. degree from Loyola University Chicago, and a J.D. degree from John Marshall Law School.

Daley later accepted an honorary Doctor of Law degree from John Marshall Law School.

Except for a period from 1977 to 1980, during which time he sat on the Advisory Council of Economic Opportunity, he practiced law privately with the firm Daley and George.

Daley managed his brother Richard's successful campaign in the 1980 Cook County State's Attorney election.

He became associated with Amalgamated Bank of Chicago, where he was first vice chairman (1989–1990) and then president and chief operating officer (1990–1993).

Daley returned to the practice of law, as a partner with the firm Mayer, Brown & Platt from 1993 to 1997.

Daley was appointed to the board of Fannie Mae in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, serving until 1997.

In 1993, he served as Special Counsel to the president on issues relating to the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Daley resigned as commerce secretary to become general chairman of Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign, replacing Tony Coelho.

He also served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce, from 1997 to 2000, under President Bill Clinton.

Daley was U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 1997 to 2000.

Among other things, Secretary Daley helped usher in the age of E-commerce, ran the 2000 census, expanded minority business development programs, and oversaw a wide range of economic initiatives during one of the strongest economic periods in American history, adding an estimated 23 million jobs.

Daley stepped down to run Al Gore's campaign for president in 2000.

He was portrayed in the HBO film Recount, about the Florida election recount of the 2000 presidential election, by actor Mitch Pileggi.

In December 2001, Daley was appointed to a newly created position as President of SBC Communications to help reform the company's image.

In May 2004, Daley was appointed Midwest Chairman of JPMorgan Chase, following its acquisition of Bank One Corporation.

In 2007, Daley was appointed as head of the Corporate Responsibility program, a position he held until 2010.

Daley formerly served on the Board of Directors of Boeing, Merck & Co., Boston Properties, and Loyola University Chicago.

He is currently a trustee of Northwestern University and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

During the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, Daley was a prominent supporter of Barack Obama.

On November 5, 2008, Daley was named to the advisory board of the Obama-Biden Transition Project.

In 2010, he received the Chicago History Museum "Making History Award" for Distinction in Civic Leadership.

Daley succeeded Rahm Emanuel, who served as chief of staff during the first two years of the president's term and left the position in October 2010 to run to succeed Daley's brother as Mayor of Chicago, and Pete Rouse, who was serving as the interim chief of staff.

He served as White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama, from January 2011 to January 2012.

On January 6, 2011, President Barack Obama named Daley as his next White House Chief of Staff, and he took office on January 13, 2011.

In March 2011, speaking for the Obama administration on Meet the Press, Daley said the administration will consider using the Strategic Petroleum Reserve if rising oil prices caused by Arab Spring threaten the U.S. economy.

Daley said Obama "is very concerned; we're trying to look at all the possible options."

He repeated the administration's stance that there is enough output capacity in the world to deal with any disruptions from Libya.

Daley was photographed in the White House Situation Room photograph taken on May 1, 2011, by Pete Souza.

Later in May 2011, he was part of the Presidential State Visit to the United Kingdom.

He has also served on the executive committee of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Daley was a candidate for Governor of Illinois in the 2014 gubernatorial election, until dropping out of the race on September 16, 2013.

In 2014, he joined Argentiere Capital as a managing partner.

He ran in the 2019 Chicago mayoral election but came in third in the first-round voting, and did not advance to the runoff.

He served as the Vice Chairman of BNY Mellon from June through October 2019.

Since November 13, 2019, Daley has served as the Vice Chairman of Public Affairs for Wells Fargo.

He was born in Chicago, the seventh and youngest child of the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley and Eleanor "Sis" Daley.

He is the brother of former Illinois legislator John P. Daley and former Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley.

On November 7, 2019, it was announced that Daley had been appointed to serve as head of Public Affairs at Wells Fargo effective November 13, 2019, and will also serve as one of the company's Vice Chairman.

His appointment went into effect as scheduled.