Brian Deese is the current Institute Innovation Fellow at MIT and the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, where he is focused on researching and developing strategies to address climate change and promote sustainable economic growth. As the former Director of the White House National Economic Council, Deese 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 Obama, Deese was instrumental in engineering the rescue of the U.S. auto industry and 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 B.A. from Middlebury College and his JD from Yale Law School.