Michael Faulkender is Co-Chair of American Prosperity at AFPI and the William E. Longbrake Chair of Finance at the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. On March 26, 2025, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the 16th Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, a role he served in through August 2025. He also served as acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service for two months. As Deputy Secretary, he was the department’s chief operating officer, responsible for formulation and implementation of Treasury policy across the department including tax policy, financial regulation, sanctions, trade, and international development. From 2019 to 2021, Faulkender served as the Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the US Department of Treasury. In that role, he advised the Secretary on domestic and international issues that impacted the economy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he assisted in negotiating the CARES Act and was the senior Treasury official who led the implementation of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). In January, he was awarded the Alexander Hamilton Award for Distinguished Leadership, the highest service award granted at the Department of the Treasury. He is a frequent guest on business cable news programs, has authored a number of opinion pieces on the economic issues of our time and testified to Congress eight times between 2021 and 2024.