The idea for the bureau was the brainchild of Harvard University law professor Elizabeth Warren, who was named a special adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last year to help build the new agency from scratch.

The agency was created as part of last year’s Dodd-Frank act, the broadest revamp of financial regulation since the Great Depression. The new bureau, which consolidates powers that were spread among several bank and consumer regulators, must be up and running by July.

Warren has shown herself to be a shrewd tactician, bringing aboard big names and neutralizing opposition to the panel from Republicans who’d vowed to defund and defang it.