Mr. Deese served as the Director of the White House National Economic Council from January 2021 to February 2023, advising President Biden on domestic and international economic policy and coordinating the economic agenda of the Biden‐Harris Administration.
Deese spearheaded the Administration’s effort to develop and integrate a modern industrial strategy into the Administration’s economic policy – with a focus on accelerating the clean energy transition, increasing energy security, bolstering the resilience of domestic supply chains, and promoting U.S. manufacturing. He coordinated the Administration’s efforts to increase competition and entrepreneurship, lower housing costs and increase housing supply, and strengthen labor protections.
A former Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama, Deese was instrumental both in engineering the rescue of the U.S. auto industry in 2009 and in negotiating the landmark Paris Climate Agreement in 2015. During the Obama‐Biden Administration, Deese also served as Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council.
Prior to the Biden Administration, Deese was Global Head of Sustainable Investing at BlackRock, where he worked to drive greater focus on climate and sustainability risk in investment portfolios and create investment strategies to help accelerate the clean energy transition.
Deese received his Bachelor of Arts from Middlebury College, and his JD from Yale Law School.