2019 Fiscal Summit
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PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES June 11, 2019 Washington, D.C. PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES OLIVIER BLANCHARD C. Fred Bergsten Senior Fellow Peterson Institute for International Economics Olivier Blanchard joined the Peterson Institute for International Economics as the first C. Fred Bergsten Senior Fellow in October 2015. A citizen of France, Blanchard has spent most of his professional life in Cambridge, MA. After obtaining his PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1977, he taught at Harvard University, and returned to MIT in 1982. He was chair of the economics department from 1998 to 2003. In 2008, he took a leave of absence to be the economic counselor and director of the Research Department at the International Monetary Fund. He remains Robert M. Solow Professor of Economics emeritus at MIT. He is a macroeconomist who has worked on a wide range of issues, from the role of monetary policy, the nature of speculative bubbles, the nature of the labor market and the determinants of unemployment, transition in former communist countries, and to forces behind the recent global financial crisis. In the process, he has worked with numerous countries and international organizations. He is the author of many books and articles, including two textbooks on macroeconomics, one at the graduate level with Stanley Fischer and the other at the undergraduate level. He is a past editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the NBER Macroeconomics Annual and founding editor of American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics. He is a fellow and past council member of the Econometric Society, president-elect of the American Economic Association, and a member of the American Academy of Sciences. BETH ANN BOVINO Managing Director and U.S. Chief Economist S&P Global Ratings Services Beth Ann Bovino is the U.S. Chief Economist and Managing Director at S & P Global Ratings Services, based in New York. In this position, she develops S&P’s U.S. economic forecasts and authors the quarterly U.S. Economic Forecast, the biweekly Financial Notes and the Business Cycle Barometer. Beth Ann has written timely research reports on long-term economic trends and has created industry drivers for analyst research. She is quoted regularly in the press and has appeared on many major television programs. Further, she has written many articles for popular and professional publications. Before joining Standard & Poor’s in February 2004, Beth Ann spent over ten years doing economic and market research with Sungard Institutional Brokerage, UBS Warburg, and the Federal Reserve. The Wall Street Journal recognized Beth Ann as the most accurate forecaster of the U.S. economy in 2013, and the second most accurate forecaster of the U.S. economy in 2018. The YWCA honored Beth Ann for her work on women in the workforce, inducting her into their YW Academy of Women Leaders at their 45th Salute Luncheon in 2018. Beth Ann holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, a master’s degree in International and Development Economics from Yale University and a PhD in Economics from Columbia University. © 2019 Peter G. Peterson Foundation 1 @pgpfoundation #FiscalSummit PGPF.org REPRESENTATIVE KEVIN BRADY (R-TX, DISTRICT 8) Ranking Member of the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means Kevin is the lead Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee—considered by many to be the most powerful committee in Congress with jurisdiction over taxes, health care, Social Security, Medicare, international trade and welfare. While serving as Chairman, Kevin authored and helped pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which reformed the U.S. Tax Code for the first time in more than 30 years, leading to millions of jobs being created, record revenue to the U.S. Treasury, the lowest unemployment rate in almost 50 years and the highest wage growth in a decade. A champion of free enterprise and American-made energy, Kevin’s focus is creating jobs, reducing Washington spending and sunsetting obsolete federal agencies. Kevin previously served as chairman of the influential Health Subcommittee for the House Ways and Means Committee. As chairman, he focused on ensuring a strong, free market in the nation’s health care industry and look for ways to increase the quality of health care, while keeping costs low. And as the former Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, Kevin is a GOP leader. Until 2013, Kevin was the leader of the Trade Subcommittee and led the successful effort to pass new trade agreements with Panama, South Korea and Colombia—and he served as the White House point man on the successful passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement. On the Social Security Subcommittee, Kevin fought to preserve this important program for future generations once and for all. Prior to his election to Congress, Kevin worked as a chamber of commerce executive for 18 years and served six years in the Texas House of Representatives where he was named one of the Ten Best Legislators for Families & Children. In 1994 he was named one of Five Outstanding Young Texans. In order to stay close to the people he represents, Kevin never moved to Washington. He lives in Montgomery County with his wife Cathy and his two sons Will (18) and Sean (15)—and has logged nearly two million miles commuting to Congress each week. Kevin is an original Hometown Hero of The Woodlands, a Paul Harris Fellow in Rotary and a Distinguished Alumni of the University of South Dakota. He and his family attend Saints Simon and Jude Catholic Church. LANHEE J. CHEN David and Diane Steffy Research Fellow Hoover Institution Lanhee J. Chen, PhD is the David and Diane Steffy Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Director of Domestic Policy Studies and Lecturer in the Public Policy Program at Stanford University. He is also currently a Senior Counselor at the Brunswick Group, an international business advisory firm, an Operating Partner of New Road Capital Partners, a private equity fund, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of El Camino Hospital in the Silicon Valley. Chen’s career has included work in American politics, the U.S. government, academia, and business. He is a veteran of several high-profile U.S. political campaigns and served as policy director and chief policy adviser for Governor Mitt Romney’s 2012 bid for the presidency. He also advised Senator Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign, Romney’s 2008 run, and President Bush’s 2004 reelection effort. During the 2014 and 2018 campaign cycles, Chen served as a Senior Adviser on Policy to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). © 2019 Peter G. Peterson Foundation 2 @pgpfoundation #FiscalSummit PGPF.org Chen previously served as a presidentially-appointed member of the Social Security Advisory Board and a senior appointee at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the George W. Bush Administration. His writings have appeared in a variety of outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and Bloomberg View. He has been a CNN Political Commentator and provided political analysis and commentary on nearly every other major television network. Chen was honored in 2015 as one of the POLITICO 50, a list of the “thinkers, doers, and visionaries transforming American politics.” He earned a similar honor in 2012 when he was named one of POLITICO’s “50 Politicos to Watch.” He earned his PhD and AM in political science from Harvard University, his JD cum laude from Harvard Law School, and his AB magna cum laude in government from Harvard College. WILLIAM H. FREY Senior Fellow, Metropolitan Policy Program The Brookings Institution William H. Frey is an internationally recognized demographer who has written widely on U.S. demographics, American political demographics, and the U.S. Census. His most recent book is Diversity Explosion: How New Racial Demographics Are Remaking America (Brookings Institution Press, 2018). Dr. Frey is Senior Fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution and Research Professor with the Population Studies Center and Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. He has authored over 200 publications and several books including America by the Numbers: A Field Guide to the US Population (with Bill Abresch and Jonathan Yeasting); and Social Atlas of the United States (with Amy Beth Anspach and John Paul DeWitt). His commentary and observations appear frequently in major print, online and broadcast media including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Axios and the PBS NewsHour. WILLIAM GALE Arjay and Frances Fearing Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy Director, Retirement Security Project Co-Director, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center The Brookings Institution William Gale is the Arjay and Frances Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy and a senior fellow in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. His research focuses on tax policy, fiscal policy, pensions and saving behavior. He is co-director of the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute. He is also director of the Retirement Security Project. He is the author of Fiscal Therapy: Curing America’s Debt Addiction and Investing in the Future (Oxford 2019). From 2006 to 2009, he served as Vice President of Brookings and Director of the Economic Studies Program. Prior to joining Brookings in 1992, he was an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a senior economist for the Council of Economic Advisers under President George H.W. Bush. © 2019 Peter G. Peterson Foundation 3 @pgpfoundation #FiscalSummit PGPF.org HEATHER HAHN Senior Fellow, Center for Labor, Human Services, and Population Urban Institute Dr.