Doug Holtz-Eakin

A distinguished policy advisor, academic, and strategist, Dr. Doug Holtz-Eakin is skilled at forecasting policy problems on the horizon and recommending sound strategies for mitigating risk to your industry. He is the current president of the American Action Forum policy institute, and a commissioner on the Congressionally-chartered Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. The FCIC is a bipartisan commission that has been given a critical non-partisan mission—to examine the causes of the financial crisis that has gripped the country and to report findings to the Congress, the President, and the American people. Holtz-Eakin draws from his background as a professor, and his experience testifying before Congress, to break down complicated issues into easily understandable dimensions. Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, his presentations are candid, contemporaneous, and filled with useful information about what the future holds for tax policy, budget outlook, energy issues, health care, and financial reform.

Policy Veteran. During 2001-2002, Holtz-Eakin was the chief economist of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. At CEA he helped to formulate policies addressing the 2000-2001 recession and the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He was the 6th director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which provides budgetary and policy analysis to the U.S. Congress. During his tenure, CBO assisted Congress as they addressed numerous policies. Notably the 2003 tax cuts, the Medicare prescription drug bill, and Social Security reform. During 2007 and 2008 he was director of Domestic and Economic Policy for the John McCain presidential campaign. Since the 2008 election Holtz-Eakin was the president of DHE Consulting, an economic and policy consulting firm providing insight and research to a broad cross-section of clients.

Holtz-Eakin built an international reputation as a scholar doing research in areas of applied economic policy, econometric methods, and entrepreneurship. He began his career at Columbia University and later moved to Syracuse University. At Syracuse, he became Trustee Professor of Economics at the Maxwell School, chairman of the department of economics and associate director of the Center for Policy Research.

He has also held positions in several Washington-based think tanks. He was senior fellow at the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics, and the director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies and the Paul A. Volcker Chair in International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. He has also been a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, and the American Family Business Foundation. Holtz-Eakin serves on the boards of the Tax Foundation, National Economists Club and Center for a Responsible Federal Budget, and the Research Advisory Board of the Center for Economic Development.