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Cowhey Center on Global Transformation CCGT

James Lambright

James Lambright
James Lambright is a professor of practice at UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. Prior to joining, he served as senior vice president of Sempra Energy, overseeing M&A and corporate strategy. He also served as chief operating officer, chief financial officer and board member of a San Diego-based venture-backed renewable energy company. Lambright’s earlier leadership roles include serving as the presidentially-nominated and Senate-confirmed chairman and CEO of the U.S. Export-Import Bank. During his tenure, he managed a $60 billion credit portfolio with exposure to more than 150 countries and transformed the Ex-Im Bank into a self-financing institution, ending reliance on the annual federal budgeting process. During the financial crisis of 2008-09, Lambright served as chief investment officer of the U.S. Treasury Department's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) at the request of Treasury Secretaries Henry Paulson and Timothy Geithner. In this position, he chaired the TARP Investment Committee and built the team, policies, and programs to execute more than 600 investments in financial and automotive companies, including AIG, Citigroup, and GM.