He previously served as Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the U.S. Department of the Treasury during the Clinton administration and as Managing Senior Counsel for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
[1] He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in political science and economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and received a J.D.
[8] Baer was appointed by Secretary Lawrence Summers to coordinate Treasury policy on cyberdefense and was the chief government architect in creation of the FS/ISAC, a computer defense center.
[12] Baer left JPMorgan Chase in 2015 to become general counsel of the Clearing House Association Payments Company.
[13] In July 2018, the Clearing House Association merged with the Financial Services Roundtable, and Baer assumed the role of President and CEO of the newly formed Bank Policy Institute.
[25] Baer is the author of two books: The Great Mutual Fund Trap, co-authored with Gary Gensler,[26] and Life: The Odds (And How to Improve Them).