Elizabeth Warren, Consumer Advocate
Watch Elizabeth Warren's closing remarks from the UMass Lowell/Boston Herald Senate Debate on Oct. 1, 2012
Elizabeth Warren has made her life’s work fighting for middle-class families. The Boston Globe's Brian McGrory calls her “… the plainspoken voice of people getting crushed by so many predatory lenders and under regulated banks.” TIME magazine has called her a “New Sheriff of Wall Street” and has twice included her among America’s 100 most influential people. She is credited with winning historic new financial protections for middle class families.
Like many of those families, Elizabeth’s family faced economic pressures. Her dad suffered a heart attack when Elizabeth was twelve. His job was changed, his pay cut, and the medical bills piled up. The family lost their car, and her mom went to work answering phones at Sears.
Elizabeth got her first job babysitting at nine and at 13 she began waiting tables at a family restaurant. She married at 19, and, after graduating from college, taught in an elementary school. Her daughter Amelia was born when she was 22, and she started law school when Amelia was two. After she graduated, her son Alex was born.
Elizabeth practiced law from home, then returned to teaching. She has been a Harvard law professor for nearly 20 years and has written nine books, including two national best-sellers, and more than a hundred articles. National Law Journal named her one of the Most Influential Lawyers of the Decade, and she has been honored by the Massachusetts Women’s Bar Association.
In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Elizabeth served as Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The Boston Globe named her Bostonian of the Year in 2009 for her oversight efforts.
She has been applauded for spearheading the creation of a new consumer financial protection agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, charged with protecting consumers from financial tricks and traps often hidden in mortgages, credit cards and other financial products.
Elizabeth and her husband Bruce Mann, have been married for 32 years and now have three grandchildren. They live in Cambridge with their golden retriever, Otis.