Elizabeth Warren
ATT ’66 to ’68
United States Senator
Monumental Achievement: U.S. Senator, attorney, and former law professor Elizabeth Warren is a fierce advocate for her constituents in the state of Massachusetts as well as for all Americans. Before becoming the first woman ever elected to the Senate from the Bay State, Warren served as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. She is credited with the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Among her many honors: being cited as Bostonian of the Year by The Boston Globe; receiving the Lelia J. Robinson Award from the Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts; being recognized multiple times as one of the 50 Most Influential Women Attorneys in America by The National Law Journal; and being included four times on Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World.
Biography
Elizabeth Warren, a fearless consumer advocate who has made her life's work the fight for middle-class families, was elected to the United States Senate on November 6, 2012, by the people of Massachusetts.
Warren is recognized as one of the nation's top experts on bankruptcy and the financial pressures facing middle-class families, and the Boston Globe has called her "the plainspoken voice of people getting crushed by so many predatory lenders and under regulated banks."
She is widely credited for the original thinking, political courage, and relentless persistence that led to the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. President Obama asked her to set up the new agency to hold Wall Street banks and other financial institutions accountable, and to protect consumers from financial tricks and traps often hidden in mortgages, credit cards and other financial products.
In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Warren served as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Her independent and tireless efforts to protect taxpayers, to hold Wall Street accountable, and to ensure tough oversight of both the Bush and Obama administrations won praise from both sides of the aisle. The Boston Globe named Warren Bostonian of the Year and TIME Magazine called her a "New Sheriff of Wall Street" for her oversight efforts.
During her campaign for the Senate, Warren promised to fight for middle-class families and to make sure that everyone has a fair shot to get ahead. She called for policies that would level the regulatory playing field for small businesses and ensure that everyone - even large and powerful corporations - pays a fair share in taxes and is held accountable for breaking the law.
Endorsing Warren's candidacy, the New Bedford Standard-Times said, "Elizabeth Warren has it right on all the things that matter most to us in SouthCoast and across Massachusetts," with "principles that without a doubt, promote the well-being of the middle class." The Boston Globe called her "a fierce advocate for the lot of working families, creating educational opportunities, and expanding medical research." The Springfield Republican said, "We need a voice for working families in Washington again. Elizabeth Warren will give us that voice."
Warren was a law professor for more than 30 years, including nearly 20 years as the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. The graduating class at Harvard twice recognized her with the Sacks-Freund Award for excellence in teaching. She taught courses on commercial law, contracts, and bankruptcy and wrote more than a hundred articles and ten books, including three national best-sellers, A Fighting Chance, The Two-Income Trap, and All Your Worth. National Law Journal named her one of the most influential lawyers of the decade, TIME Magazine has named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world four times, and she has been honored by the Massachusetts Women's Bar Association with the Lelia J. Robinson Award.
Warren learned first-hand about the economic pressures facing working families, growing up in a family she says was "on the ragged edge of the middle-class." She got married at 19, and after graduating from college, started teaching in elementary school. Her first baby, a daughter Amelia, was born when Warren was 22. When Amelia was two, Warren started law school. Shortly after she graduated, her son Alex was born. Warren hung out a shingle and practiced law out of her living room, but she soon returned to teaching.
She is a graduate of the University of Houston and Rutgers School of Law. She and her husband, Bruce Mann, have been married for 40 years and live in Cambridge, Massachusetts with their golden retriever, Bailey. They have three grandchildren.