Experts & Analysts

Dr. Robert J. Shapiro

Robert J. Shapiro is the co-founder and chairman of Sonecon, LLC, a private firm that advises U.S. and foreign businesses, governments and non-profit organizations on market conditions and economic policy. 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., SLM Corporation, Nordstjernan of Sweden, and Fujitsu of Japan; and non-profit organizations including the American Public Transportation Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Investors Action Alliance. He is also Senior Fellow of the Progressive Policy Institute and a director of the Ax:son-Johnson Foundation in Sweden, the Center for International Political Economy in New York, and USA for Innovation in Washington, D.C. 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 carried out the 2000 decennial census. Prior to that appointment, 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 in his 2000 presidential campaign. 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. He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, a M.Sc. from London School of Economics, and an A.B. from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Elaine C. Kamarck

Elaine C. Kamarck is a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Dr. Kamarck came to the Kennedy School in 1997 after a career in politics and government. In the 1980s, she was one of the founders of the New Democrat movement that helped elect Bill Clinton president. She served in the White House from 1993 to 1997, where she created and managed the Clinton Administration's National Performance Review, also known as reinventing government. At the Kennedy School she served as Director of Visions of Governance for the Twenty-First Century and as Faculty Advisor to the Innovations in American Government Awards Program. In 2000, she took a leave of absence to work as Senior Policy Advisor to the Gore campaign. She conducts research on 21st century government, the role of the Internet in political campaigns, homeland defense, intelligence reorganization, and governmental reform and innovation. Dr. Kamarck received her PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. Kamarck is the author of "The End of Government as We Know It: Policy Implementation in the 21st Century" published by Lynne Rienner Publishing, Fall, 2006.

Dr. Nam Pham

Dr. Nam Pham is President of The NDP Group, LLC, a consulting firm in Washington, D.C. His recent work has focused on industry benchmarking and financial institutions. He is an Adjunct Professor of Economics at both the graduate school of George Washington University and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Previously, he was Vice President at Scudder-Kemper in Boston, MA, chief economist for Asia for Standard & Poor's DRI, and economist the World Bank. He holds a Ph.D. from George Washington University and a B.S. from the University of Maryland.

Dr. Arun Malik

Arun Malik is Associate professor of Economics and Public Policy and Public Administration at George Washington University. He is a national expert on environmental economics, and co-editor of the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. Dr. Malik has recently been a visiting scholar or visiting professor at Nanyang Technological University, the Indian Institute of Management and Delhi School of Economics. He has published widely in professional journals, and he holds a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. from Bowdoin College.