people
The Individuals behind The Grand Bargain project
Meet the core team
Our core team comprises a diverse group of dedicated professionals, each a leader in their respective field. United by a common goal to reshape America's future, they bring unparalleled expertise and passion to the Grand Bargain Project. From seasoned policy experts and influential advocates to strategic thinkers and grassroots organizers, our team is committed to fostering collaboration and driving substantial change across key societal issues. Together, they embody our mission to empower communities and strengthen democracy through innovative, consensus-driven solutions
Sol Erdman
Travis Robinson
David Fairman
Richard Eidlin
Paul Kramer
Khiteriara Brown
Malka R. Kopell
Policy expert team
Eric Hanushek. Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution (Stanford), specializing in economic analysis of educational issues. Won the Yidan Prize for research.
Bill Hoagland. Senior Vice President, Bipartisan Policy Center. Former Director of the Senate Budget Committee. Participated in major federal budget negotiations throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin. Founder and President, American Action Forum. Former Director of the Congressional Budget Office. Former senior economist on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Glenn Hubbard. President, Committee for a Responsible Federal Government. Specializes in budget, tax, and economic policies. Serves as a consistent resource on Capitol Hill and international media outlets.
Maya MacGuineas. President, Committee for a Responsible Federal Government. Specializes in budget, tax, and economic policies. Serves as a consistent resource on Capitol Hill and international media outlets.
Richard V. Reeves. Senior Fellow, Brookings. Specializes in economic studies. Former European Business Speaker of the Year. Former principal policy advisor to the Minister of Welfare Reform in Great Britain.
Robert Reischauer. President Emeritus, Urban Institute. Former director of the Congressional Budget Office. Former trustee of Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds.
Gerard Robinson. Fellow of Practice, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture (UVA). Former Secretary of Education in Virginia. Former Commissioner of Education in Florida.
Isabel Sawhill (Team Co-Leader). Senior Fellow and former Director of Economic Studies at Brookings. Former Associate Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. Professor of Human Development and Social Policy, Northwestern. Former Director of the Hamilton Project at Brookings. Scholar at Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Richard Schmalensee. Former Dean of Sloan School of Management, MIT. Former Director of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Former member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers.
Eugene Steuerle. Fellow, Urban Institute. Former Deputy Secretary for Treasury. Co-founder and former President of National Tax Association. One of the chief architects of the 1986 Tax Reform Act.
Michael Strain (Team Co-Leader). Director of Economic Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute. Member of Aspen Economic Strategy Group. Research fellow at Germany’s IZA Institute of Labor Economics.
Board of advisors
Tom Daschle, Former Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate
Andrew Card, Former Chief of Staff to the President of the United States
Lawrence Susskind, Vice Chair and Co-founder, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School
Tom Daschle, Former Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate
Andrew Card, Former Chief of Staff to the President of the United States
Steve Bartlett, Former President of the Financial Services Roundtable and Former Mayor of Dallas
Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; Founding Co-editor, Journal of Democracy
Francis Fukuyama, Professor, Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law
John Steiner, Co-founder of the Bridge Alliance and the Social Venture Network
Margo King, Co-founder and Former President of the Niskanen Center
Jerry Taylor, Co-founder and Former President of the Niskanen Center
Eugene Steuerle, Richard Fischer Chair at the Urban Institute; Co-founder, Tax Policy Center
Hahrie Han, Inaugural Director, SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University
Barry Anderson, Former Acting Director, Congressional Budget Office
Francis Johnson, President, Take Back Our Republic
Charles Wheelan, Founder and Co-chair, Unite America
Kelly Johnston, Former Secretary of the U.S. Senate
Adi Ignatius, Editor, Harvard Business Review
Thomas Kahn, Distinguished Fellow, Center for Congressional & Presidential Studies, American University
Joseph V. Kennedy, Former Senior Economist with the Joint Economic Committee in Congress
Jake Harriman, Founder and CEO, More Perfect Union
Jacob Merkle, CEO, Rhizome
Uriel Ephstein, Executive Director, Renew Democracy Initiative
David Levine, President and Co-founder, American Sustainable Business Council
Brandon Arnold, Executive Vice President, National Taxpayers Union
Rob Richie, Founder and President, FairVote
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