Rob Shapiro

Dr. Robert J. Shapiro is the director of NDN's Globalization Initiative, and has been involved in the project since its inception in early 2005. Dr. Shapiro has an extensive background examining the American and global economies. From 1997 to 2001, Dr. Shapiro was U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs. In that position, he directed economic policy for the Commerce Department and oversaw the Nation’s major statistical agencies, including the Census Bureau while it planned and carried out the 2000 decennial census. Prior to his appointment as Under Secretary, he was co-founder and Vice President of the Progressive Policy Institute and the Progressive Foundation. He also was principal economic advisor in Governor Bill Clinton’s 1991-1992 presidential campaign and senior economic advisor to Vice President Albert Gore and Senator John Kerry in their presidential campaigns. Dr. Shapiro also served as Legislative Director for Senator Daniel P. Moynihan, Associate Editor of U.S. News & World Report, and economic columnist for Slate. He has been a Fellow of Harvard University, the Brookings Institution, and the National Bureau of Economic Research. Dr. Shapiro holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an A.B. from the University of Chicago. He has lectured at many universities, including Harvard University and Stanford University, and is widely published in both scholarly and popular journals.

Dr. Shapiro is also the co-founder and chairman of Sonecon, LLC, a private firm that provides advice and analysis on market conditions and economic policy to senior executives and officials of U.S. and foreign businesses, governments and non-profit organizations. Dr. Shapiro has advised, among others, U.S. President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair; private firms such as MCI, Inc., New York Life Insurance Co., AT&T, Google, Gilead Sciences, SLM Corporation, Nordstjernan of Sweden, and Fujitsu of Japan; and non-profit organizations including the American Public Transportation Association, the Education Finance Council, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Progressive Policy Institute, and a board member of the Ax:son-Johnson Foundation in Sweden and the Center for International Political Economy in New York.