Michael Mundaca

Mundaca was born in Staten Island, New York City, where his father, a Chilean immigrant, worked for the United States Postal Service.^[1]

He received his B.A. in philosophy and physics from Columbia University in 1986,^[2] and a M.A. from the University of Chicago.^[3] He received a J.D. from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1992, where he was the senior executive editor of the California Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif.^[4] He also received a LL.M. from the University of Miami School of Law.^[3]

Mundaca began his career as an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell's office in New York City. From 1997 to 2002, he worked in the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Tax Policy, leaving as Deputy International Tax Counsel.^[5] He later joined the accounting firm, Ernst & Young, as a partner in the practice's International Tax Services group from 2002 to 2007. In 2007, he rejoined the Treasury Department as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Tax Affairs.^[6][7] In September 2009, President Barack Obama picked Mundaca as Assistant Treasury Secretary for Tax Policy after Elizabeth Garrett withdrew her nomination.^[8] He was confirmed in March 2010 and served in the position until May 2011,^[9] when he left the agency to rejoin Ernst & Young, where he has been the leader of the firm's U.S. National Tax Department.^[10]