Cornell alum and local Ithacan, Mary J. Miller ’77, had been nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as assistant treasury secretary for financial markets, a White House press release announced Monday.

Pending Senate confirmation, Miller would serve as a senior advisor to the secretary, deputy secretary and under secretary of the U.S Department of the Treasury on a host of financial issues — from broad matters of domestic finance to Federal debt, government credit policies, lending and privatization.

Miller is currently the vice president of T. Rowe Price, a Baltimore-based investment management firm. She joined T. Rowe Price in 1983 and has since held a number of leadership roles in firm committees and has held the position of director of the Fixed Income Division for the last five years. According to the firm, the team of investment professionals overseen by Miller managed $87.8 billion dollars in assets as of June 30.

“I have been fortunate to work at a firm that represents the best prnciples of our financial markets,” Miller said in a statement released by T. Rowe Price. “I look forward to bringing this experience to public service if I am chosen.”

While her new office may be in Washington, D.C., Miller’s roots trace back to her home town, Ithaca. Currently, her father, stepmother and extended family still reside in Ithaca. She graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor degree in government. Miller has maintained her ties with Cornell, serving as a Cornell University Council member, an organization of select alumni. Miller went on to earn a master in city and regional planning from the University of North Carolina, and was a research associate for the Urban Institute in Washington D.C prior to her career with T. Rowe Price