Staff

Don Graves was appointed as Executive Director of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness at the White House, where he provides advice to the President on continuing to strengthen the Nation's economy and the competitiveness of the United States, and on ways to create jobs, opportunity, and prosperity for the American people. Mr. Graves also currently serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Small Business, Community Development and Housing Policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In this role, Mr. Graves manages a portfolio of policy issues including business and small business finance and development, housing finance, community and economic development, capital access, job creation and issues related to underserved communities. Previously, he served as a partner with Graves, Horton, Askew & Johns, LLC. He is the former Director of Public Policy for the Business Roundtable, and was previously a Policy Advisor for the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Domestic Finance. In addition, Mr. Graves oversees the newly created Small Business Lending Fund and State Small Business Credit Initiative.

Mr. Graves holds degrees of Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History from Williams College and Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center where he received the Dean’s Award. He served as volunteer Chief Executive Officer of Progress Through Business, a national nonprofit focused on economic development, supporting lower-income employees and sustainability. He also served on the Board of Trustees of the Community Reinvestment Fund and Board of Directors of the Center on Business and Poverty, as well as the Advisory Boards of Wall Street Without Walls and the Greater Washington Board of Trade’s Small Business Network.

Additional Staff:

• Michael Strautmanis, Senior Advisor
• Danielle Evers, Associate Director