Brian Deese

Institute Innovation Fellow

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

BRIAN DEESE is a MIT Innovation Fellow, focusing on the impact of economic policies that strengthen the United States’ industrial capacity and on accelerating climate investment and innovation. He is also the former director of the White House National Economic Council, where he advised President Biden on domestic and international economic policy and coordinated the economic agenda of the Biden‐Harris Administration. A former senior advisor to President Barack Obama who was instrumental both in engineering the rescue of the U.S. auto industry and in negotiating the landmark Paris Climate Agreement, Deese is a crisis‐tested advisor with broad experience in accelerating economic prosperity, empowering working Americans, and harnessing the economic opportunities that come from building a clean energy economy and combating the climate crisis. Previously, Deese also served as the 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 low‐carbon transition. During the Obama‐Biden Administration, Deese served as acting director of the Office of Management and Budget and deputy director of the National Economic Council. Deese received his BA from Middlebury College, and his JD from Yale Law School.