Erskine Bowles

Co-Chair, Aspen Economic Strategy Group

President Emeritus, University of North Carolina

Erskine Bowles is co-chair of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group. He is chairman of the board of advisors of BDT Capital Partners. He began his business career at Morgan Stanley and went on to found and lead Bowles, Hollowell, Conner, which became the preeminent investment bank focused on middle market mergers and acquisitions. He subsequently co-founded the middle market private equity firm Carousel Capital, served as a senior advisor for Credit Suisse First Boston, and as a partner with the global buyout firm Forstmann Little & Co. Today, he serves on the boards of Morgan Stanley, Facebook, Norfolk & Southern, and KIND Healthy Snacks. He previously served on the boards of GM, Merck, VF Corporation, and Cousins Properties. In his public-sector career, Erskine served in the Clinton Administration as SBA Administrator, Deputy White House chief of staff, and chief of staff. During his time in the White House, he negotiated the first balanced budget in a generation. Erskine co-chaired with Senator Alan Simpson the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, and from 2005-2011, he served as the president of the University of North Carolina.

Henry M. Paulson, Jr. 

Co-Chair, Aspen Economic Strategy Group

74th Secretary of the United States Treasury

Hank Paulson  is co-chair of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group. He is the founder and chairman of the Paulson Institute, which aims to advance sustainable economic growth, a cleaner environment, and cross-border investments in the United States and China. Paulson served as the 74th Secretary of the Treasury under President George W. Bush, from July 2006 to January 2009. Prior to that, he had a thirty-two-year career at Goldman Sachs, serving as chairman and chief executive officer beginning in 1999. A lifelong conservationist, Paulson was chairman of The Nature Conservancy Board of directors and, prior to that, founded and co-chaired the organization’s Asia-Pacific Council. In 2011, he founded and continues to co-chair the Latin American Conservation Council, comprised of global business and political leaders. He also co-chaired the Risky Business Project from 2013-2017, a non-partisan initiative that quantified and publicized the economic risks of climate change in the United States. Earlier in his career, he was a member of the White House Domestic Council as well as a staff assistant at the Pentagon. Paulson is the author of the best-selling books On the Brink and Dealing with China. He graduated from Dartmouth College and received an M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Melissa S. Kearney

Director, Aspen Economic Strategy Group

Neil Moskowitz Professor of Economics, University of Maryland

Melissa S. Kearney is the Neil Moskowitz Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland and Director of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group. She is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); a non-resident Senior Fellow at Brookings; a scholar affiliate and member of the board of the Notre Dame Wilson-Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO); and a scholar affiliate of the MIT Abdul Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). She is a senior editor of the Future of Children, an editorial board member of the Journal of Economic Literature, and a former co-editor at the Journal of Human Resources. She also serves on the Board of Governors of the Smith Richardson Foundation and on the Social Inequality Advisory Committee of the Russell Sage Foundation. Kearney served as Director of the Hamilton Project at Brookings from 2013-2015 and as co-chair of the JPAL State and Local Innovation Initiative from 2015-2018. Kearney's academic research focuses on domestic policy issues, especially issues related to social policy, poverty, and inequality. Her work has been published in leading academic journals and has been frequently cited in the popular press. Kearney teaches Public Economics at both the undergraduate and PhD level at the University of Maryland. She received her PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.   

Jared Bernstein

Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Jared Bernstein joined the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in May 2011 as a Senior Fellow. From 2009 to 2011, Bernstein was the Chief Economist and Economic Adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, Executive Director of the White House Task Force on the Middle Class, and a member of President Obama’s economic team. Prior to joining the Obama administration, Bernstein was a senior economist and the director of the Living Standards Program at the Economic Policy Institute, and between 1995 and 1996, he held the post of Deputy Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Labor. Bernstein holds a PhD in Social Welfare from Columbia University and is the author and coauthor of numerous books for both popular and academic audiences, including his latest book, “The Reconnection Agenda: Reuniting Growth and Prosperity.” Bernstein has published extensively in various venues, including The New York Times, Washington Post, and The American Prospect. In addition to hosting this blog, he is an on-air commentator for the cable station CNBC and a contributor to The Washington Post’s PostEverything blog.

Mitch Daniels

President, Purdue University

Mitch Daniels is the 12th president of Purdue University and the former governor of Indiana. He was elected Indiana’s 49th governor in 2004 in his first bid for any elected office and re-elected in 2008 with more votes than any candidate for any public office in the state’s history. At Purdue, he has prioritized affordability and student success by freezing tuition and investing in educational quality. Previously, Daniels served as president of Eli Lilly and Company’s North American Pharmaceutical Operations. He also served as a senior advisor to President Ronald Reagan and as director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush. He is the author of three books, including the best-selling book Keeping the Republic: Saving America by Trusting Americans. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International affairs at Princeton University and his law degree from Georgetown University. In 2015, he was named to Fortune magazine’s list of the world’s 50 greatest leaders.

Rahm Emanuel

Mayor, City of Chicago

Rahm Emanuel is the 55th mayor of the City of Chicago. Since his election in 2011, Mayor Emanuel has led major investments across education, youth programming, neighborhood development, transportation, infrastructure, public health, and public safety. Over Mayor Emanuel’s tenure, Chicago’s students have experienced record education gains, while the city has led the nation in corporate relocations for five consecutive years, and led the nation in foreign direct-investment for six consecutive years. Mayor Emanuel has also marked record progress in reducing Chicago’s structural deficit from $635.6 million in 2012 to $97.9 million for 2019 – the lowest it has been since 2007. Previously, Mayor Emanuel served as White House Chief of Staff for President Barack Obama, three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Illinois’ 5th District, and was a key member of the Clinton White House. 

Austan Goolsbee

Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Austan Goolsbee is the Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He previously served as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Obama Administration. His research has earned him recognition as a Fulbright Scholar and an Alfred P. Sloan fellow. In prior years, he was named one of the 100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum, and one of the six “Gurus of the Future” by the Financial Times. He serves on the Economic Advisory Panel to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and is a member of the Chicago Board of Education. He previously served on the Panel of Economic Advisors to the Congressional Budget Office, the U.S. Census Advisory Commission and as a special consultant for Internet Policy to the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. He earned his BA from Yale University and his PhD in economics from MIT.

Joshua D. Gottlieb

Associate Professor, Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia

Joshua Gottlieb is an associate professor in the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia. He conducts research in applied microeconomics, public finance, health care, and labor economics. Gottlieb is a Co-Editor of the Journal of Public Economics and a Research Associate in the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is also a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Stanford University (SIEPR) in 2015-16.

 Gottlieb has published in academic journals such as the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, and Journal of Labor Economics. He won the 2015 Kenneth Arrow Award for best paper in health economics and the 2012 National Tax Association Dissertation Award for this work. His research focuses on questions with direct policy relevance, and has been relied upon by the Council of Economic Advisers and the Federal Reserve.  Gottlieb completed his Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University in 2012.

Kevin Hassett

Chairman, White House Council of Economic Advisors

Kevin A. Hassett was sworn in as the 29th Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers on September 13, 2017. Prior to becoming Chairman of the CEA, he was an economist at the American Enterprise Institute since 1997. His most recent titles at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) included James Q. Wilson Chair in American Culture and Politics and Director of Research for Domestic Policy. He also served as Director of Economic Policy Studies and Resident Scholar from 2003 through 2014. Prior to joining AEI, Hassett was a senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and an associate professor of economics and finance at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business of Columbia University. He has also served as a visiting professor at New York University’s Law School, as a consultant to the U.S. Treasury Department, and as an advisor to presidential campaigns. A noted expert in the field of public finance, Hassett has authored peer-reviewed articles in leading economics journals and has served as a columnist in leading media outlets. He received his bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College and his PhD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Glenn Hubbard

Dean; Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics, Columbia University

Glenn Hubbard is dean of Columbia Business School. He is also the Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics. Professor Hubbard received his BA and BS degrees summa cum laude from the University of Central Florida, where he received the National Society of Professional Engineers Award. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard University and the University of Chicago. Additionally, he is a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. He holds AM and PhD degrees in economics from Harvard University, where he received fellowships from the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. In addition to writing more than 100 scholarly articles in economics and finance, Glenn is the author of three popular textbooks, as well as co-author of The Aid Trap: Hard Truths About Ending Poverty, Balance: The Economics of Great Powers From Ancient Rome to Modern America, and Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Five Steps to a Better Health Care System.

In government, Hubbard served as deputy assistant secretary for tax policy at the U.S. Treasury Department from 1991 to 1993. From February 2001 until March 2003, he was chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush. While serving as CEA chairman, he also chaired the economic policy committee of the OECD. In the corporate sector, he is on the boards of ADP, BlackRock Closed-End Funds, and MetLife. Hubbard is co-chair of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation; he is a past chair of the Economic Club of New York and a past co-chair of the Study Group on Corporate Boards.

Greg Ip

Chief Economics Correspondent, The Wall Street Journal

Greg Ip is chief economics commentator for The Wall Street Journal. He writes about U.S. and global economic developments and policy in the weekly Capital Account column and on Real Time Economics, the Wall Street Journal’s economics blog. From 2008 to January 2015, he was U.S. economics editor for The Economist. From 1996 to 2008 he reported for The Wall Street Journal from New York and Washington. Greg comments regularly on television and radio and has won or shared in several prizes for journalism. He is the author of “The Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in the Real World” (Wiley, 2010) and “Foolproof: Why Safety Can Be Dangerous and How Danger Makes Us Safe,” (Little, Brown, 2015). He received a bachelor’s degree in economics and journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario.

Chris Liddell 

Assistant to the President and White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Coordination

Chris Liddell is Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Coordination where he oversees all aspects of the White House policy process. Prior to assuming this role, he served as Assistant to the President and Director of Strategic Initiatives, in which he oversaw the administration's efforts to streamline federal regulation and modernize government technology systems. Prior to his time in government, Liddell served as Vice Chairman and CFO at General Motors, where he led global finance operations and managed the company's $23 billion IPO in November 2010, which, at the time, was the largest public offering in history. Liddell has over three decades of experience in corporate leadership, including CFO and SVP of Microsoft Corporation, and CFO of International Paper. In 2012, Liddell was the executive director of the Romney Presidential Transition Planning team. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Auckland and a Master of Philosophy from Oxford University.

David Neumark

Distinguished Professor of Economics and Director, Economic Self-Sufficiency Policy Research Institute, University of California, Irvine

David Neumark is the Distinguished Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic Self-Sufficiency Policy Research Institute at University of California, Irvine. He has held positions at the Federal Reserve Board, the University of Pennsylvania, Michigan State University, and the Public Policy Institute of California. Neumark is a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and a senior research fellow at the Workers Compensation Research Institute. Neumark has contributed to the field of labor economics and its intersection with public policy. His research on labor market discrimination has revealed new methods of measuring discrimination, and new studies have adopted his recent methodological contribution on audit and correspondence studies. Neumark was one of the original contributors to the new minimum wage research, helping to pioneer the use of state-level minimum wage variation. His subsequent work has focused on original contributions on the effects of minimum wage on income distribution, human capital, and earnings. He was the first to study the effects of city living wage laws and is a leading scholar on the economics of aging and age discrimination. Neumark’s current research focuses on the long-run effects of alternative anti-poverty policies on earnings, income, poverty, and economic self-sufficiency.

Penny Pritzker

Founder and Chairman, PSP Partners; 38th United States Secretary of Commerce

Penny Pritzker is an entrepreneur, civic leader and philanthropist with more than 30 years of experience in numerous industries. Pritzker is the founder and chairman of PSP Partners and Pritzker Realty Group, a global private investment firm that takes a long-term, fundamental approach to investing in and building market-leading businesses in sectors such as business and technology services, housing and industrials. From June 2013 through January 2017, Pritzker served as U.S. secretary of commerce in the Obama Administration. Pritzker was a core member of President Obama’s economic team and served as the country’s chief commercial advocate, leading the Administration’s trade and investment promotion efforts. She also served on President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and his Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Currently, Pritzker is chairman of the board of the Carnegie Endowment, a member of the board of Microsoft, the Aspen Strategy Group and the Aspen Economic Strategy Group and on the advisory council of the Hamilton Project. She also recently co-led a Council of Foreign Relations task force on rebuilding the links among work, opportunity, and economic security for all Americans in the face of accelerating technological change called the “The Work Ahead: Machines, Skills, and U.S. Leadership in the Twenty-First Century” with former Michigan Governor John Engler.  Pritzker earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Harvard University and a Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration from Stanford University.

Catherine Rampell

Opinion Columnist, The Washington Post

Catherine Rampell is an opinion columnist at The Washington Post. She frequently covers economics, public policy, politics and culture, with a special emphasis on data-driven journalism. She is also a political and economic commentator for CNN and an occasional special correspondent for PBS Newshour. Before joining The Post, she wrote about economics and theater for the New York Times. Rampell has received the Weidenbaum Center Award for Evidence-Based Journalism and is a Gerald Loeb Award finalist. She grew up in southern Florida and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University.

Juan Salgado

Chancellor, City Colleges of Chicago

Juan Salgado serves as chancellor of City Colleges of Chicago. He has focused his 20-year career on improving education and economic opportunities for residents in low-income communities. As chancellor, he oversees Chicago’s community college system, serving more than 80,000 students across seven colleges. From 2001 to 2017, he served as CEO of Instituto del Progreso Latino, where he worked to empower residents of Chicago’s Southwest Side through education, citizenship, and skill-building programs that led to sustainable employment and economic stability. Chancellor Salgado is a community college graduate himself, earning an associate degree from Moraine Valley Community College, prior to earning a Bachelor’s degree from Illinois Wesleyan University, and a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Chancellor Salgado has been nationally recognized for his work, most recently as a 2015 MacArthur Fellow, one of the most prestigious innovation prizes in the United States.

James P. Ziliak

Gatton Endowed Chair in Microeconomics, The University of Kentucky

James Ziliak is founding director of the Center for Poverty Research and founding executive director of the Kentucky Federal Statistical Research Data Center at the University of Kentucky, where he holds the Carol Martin Gatton Endowed Chair in Microeconomics in the Department of Economics. He is also a research fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. His research interests are in the areas of labor and public economics, with a special emphasis on U.S. tax and transfer programs, poverty measurement and policy, food insecurity, and inequality. Ziliak holds a BA and a BS from Purdue University and a PhD in economics from Indiana University.