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Date and Location
Jamel McMullin
What happens when popular policies are at odds with the public good? How can leaders navigate the budget holes, rising costs, and population shifts impacting blue states and cities around the country?
Robert Gordon, Taubman Center Visiting Fellow and former senior official in the Biden and Obama administrations, offered his solutions to these challenges in a recent New York Times guest essay, where he explored pathways to shore up state and local budgets, including renegotiating with public-sector unions.
Join us for an event with Mr. Gordon as he shares insights and ideas for leaders tasked with balancing budget needs and policy priorities. Bring your questions on state and local budgeting, public sector unions, and policymaking.
Taubman Fellow:
Robert Gordon has spent over three decades serving in key roles at each level and in each branch of government, with a particular focus on improving government performance and advancing economic mobility.
Most recently, Robert served as Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Mobility at the Domestic Policy Council of the White House, handling education, housing, anti-crime, and anti-poverty initiatives, among others. Prior to that, he served as Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, leading several efforts to streamline grant and service delivery while saving taxpayers money.
Between 2019 and 2021, Robert was director of the Department of Health & Human Services for the State of Michigan, playing a key role early in the pandemic response. During the Obama-Biden Administration, Robert served as an acting deputy director and executive associate director at the Office of Management & Budget, guiding the Administration's evidence-based policy initiatives. Earlier in his career, Robert served as a senior official at the New York City Department of Education, driving an equity-focused school finance reform, a senior aide on Capitol Hill, and a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Outside government, Robert has worked as a senior vice president for global strategy and finance at the College Board, and, while a Skadden Fellow, as law guardian for children in abuse and neglect proceedings for the Juvenile Rights Division of Legal Aid in the Bronx, New York. Robert's work has been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Politico.