President-elect Joe Biden has announced a new director of the National Economic Council in Brian Deese, the current head of sustainable investing at BlackRock, CNBC reported.
The appointment doesn’t require Senate confirmation and shows the focus Biden has had thus far on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic as well as refocusing U.S. efforts to fight climate change and its underlying causes. Biden, in a statement, called Deese “among the most tested and accomplished public servants in the country.”
In the statement, Biden said Deese was “a trusted voice I can count on to help us end the ongoing economic crisis, build a better economy that deals everybody in, and take on the existential threat of climate change in a way that creates good-paying American jobs,” according to CNBC.
Deese has been a deputy director for the National Economic Council in the past, and has acted as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, and senior advisor to President Obama, CNBC reports.
Under Obama’s leadership, Deese worked to put together the bailout and reorganization of the U.S. automobile industry. He also worked as a senior advisor to Obama for issues such as climate change and energy, including “a central role” in the global climate change agreement in Paris in 2015, the CNBC report noted.
However, progressives have raised concerns about Deese’s work with BlackRock, the globe’s largest asset manager, saying the president’s chief economic advisor shouldn’t have ties to corporations or the finance industry, CNBC reported.
Biden, since being declared the winner of the presidential election last month, has quickly set about appointing members of his cabinet.
The president-elect appointed Cecilia Rouse, a Princeton labor economist, to head the three-member Council of Economic Advisers, PYMNTS reported. Also appointed to the Council of Economic Advisers is Jared Bernstein, who was a chief economist for Biden when he was vice president, and Heather Boushey, a policy adviser to Hillary Clinton in 2016 who is currently CEO of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.
The three-member council advises the president on economic policy.
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