Biden names veteran economic and climate expert Deese as Director of National Economic Council

US President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday named veteran economic and climate expert Brian Deese as Director of the National Economic Council, a top White House advisory position created in 1993 to help inform, design and coordinate the economic components of the president’s policy agenda.

“Brian is among the most tested and accomplished public servants in the country — a trusted voice I can count on to help us end the ongoing economic crisis, build a better economy that deals everybody in, and take on the existential threat of climate change in a way that creates good-paying American jobs,” Biden said in a statement.

A former Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and senior advisor to former president Barack Obama, Deese played a leading role both in rescuing the US auto industry and in negotiating the landmark Paris Agreement on climate during the Obama-Biden administration, the transition said.

In his new role, Deese will help President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris lift America out of the current economic downturn and build back better — creating an economy that gives every single person across America a fair shot and an equal chance to get ahead, it said.

As Director of the National Economic Council, advising Biden on domestic and international economic policy and coordinating the economic agenda of the Biden-Harris administration.

A former Senior Advisor to Obama who was instrumental both in engineering the rescue of the US 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.

Deese has held a variety of key roles helping national leaders navigate some of the biggest challenges of this generation. During the Obama-Biden administration, he served as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy after the 2008 financial crisis, as Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, and as Deputy Director and Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

In his role as Global Head of Sustainable Investing at BlackRock, Deese has worked to drive greater focus on climate and sustainability risk in investment portfolios and create investment strategies to help accelerate the low-carbon transition.

Deese received his bachelor of arts from Middlebury College, and his JD from Yale Law School.

In a statement, House Majority Leader Steny H Hoyer said that “Deese is an excellent choice to lead the National Economic Council (NEC), and his selection ought to reassure Americans that Biden's White House team will be relentlessly focused on an economic agenda that helps all of our people get ahead”.

“As a former member of the NEC and a former Deputy Director and Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget under Obama, Deese has experience working with Congress to ensure that the legislative and executive branches can partner to create and expand opportunities for our people to Make It In America,” he added.