White House Author

Gene B. Sperling was the Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy. Upon his appointment on January 7, 2011, Mr. Sperling became the first person to serve as NEC Director and principal economic policy advisor for two presidents: first under President Clinton from 1997 to 2001, and now under President Obama.

In the Obama Administration, Sperling has played a key role representing the White House in budget negotiations with Congress as well as serving as the White House point person on several of the President’s top priorities including the American Jobs Act, manufacturing policy, housing, GSE reform, skills initiatives and patent reform. He played a key role in designing the Small Business Jobs Act, the payroll tax cut, the extension of training assistance and the expansion of tax credits for low income working Americans.

During his eight years at the White House in the Clinton Administration, Sperling helped negotiate the 1993 Deficit Reduction Act, the 1997 Bipartisan Balanced Budget agreement, the increase in the earned-income tax credit and was a key architect of Saving Social Security First, and played key roles in the passage of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Hope Scholarship Tax Credit, Gear Up mentoring, New Markets Tax Credit and the Direct Student Loan program.

Mr. Sperling’s work extends beyond economics. Prior to joining the Obama Administration, was the founder and Director of the Center for Universal Education at the Council on Foreign Relations and Brookings Institute and co-authored a book entitled What Works in Girls’ Education: Evidence and Policies from the Developing World.

Mr. Sperling was also Senior Fellow for Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress, where he authored The Pro-Growth Progressive: An Economic Strategy for Shared Prosperity.

Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Sperling served as Counselor to the Secretary of Treasury in 200 and 2010. In that role, Mr. Sperling served as lead policy advisor on fiscal, budget, tax, job creation, small business policy the ACA. He was also a member of the Auto Task Force as well as an advisor to Secretary Geihtner on financial crisis matters.

Mr. Sperling graduated from the University of Minnesota and Yale Law School, and attended Wharton Business School. He is a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, where his parents still live. He is married to Allison Abner and is the father of two children.