This list of Brookings Institution scholars contains current or former notable scholars from the Brookings Institution. This list is not exhaustive.
The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global economy, and economic development.
Janet Louise Yellen is an American economist serving as the 78th United States secretary of the treasury since January 26, 2021. She previously served as the 15th chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018. She is the first person to hold those positions having also led the White House Council of Economic Advisers and the first woman to hold either post.
Alice Mitchell Rivlin was an American economist and budget official. She served as the 16th vice chair of the Federal Reserve from 1996 to 1999. Before her appointment to the Federal Reserve, Rivlin was named director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Clinton administration from 1994 to 1996. Prior to that, she was instrumental in the establishment of the Congressional Budget Office and became its founding director from 1975 to 1983. A member of the Democratic Party, Rivlin was the first woman to hold either of those posts.
Donald Lewis Kohn is an American economist who served as the 18th vice chair of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2010. Prior to his term as vice chair, Kohn served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, taking office in 2002. Fed's veteran, he retired after 40 years at the central bank, currently serving on the Financial Policy Committee for the Bank of England and as a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Shibley Telhami is an American professor in the department of government and politics at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a nonresident senior fellow of the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.
The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), known until 2006 as the Institute for International Economics (IIE), is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded by C. Fred Bergsten in 1981 and has been led by Adam S. Posen since 2013. The institute conducts research, provides policy recommendations, and publishes books and articles on a wide range of topics related to the US economy and international economics.
Charles Louis Schultze was an American economist and public policy analyst. He served as the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the President Carter Administration. Schultze was appointed the Assistant Director of the Bureau of the Budget by President John F. Kennedy in 1962, and was the director from 1965 until 1968 during President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society agenda. He was also a veteran of World War II, during which he served in the army.
Daniel Vern Speckhard is an American diplomat and nonprofit executive. Speckhard is the president and CEO of Corus International, an ensemble of faith-based organizations including Lutheran World Relief and IMA World Health, and is a former United States Ambassador to Greece and Belarus. In addition to his diplomatic and nonprofit service, Speckhard has worked as a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and is currently a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
Bruce O. Riedel is an American expert on U.S. security, South Asia, and counter-terrorism. He is currently a senior fellow in the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, and a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He also serves as a senior adviser at Albright Stonebridge Group.
Lael Brainard is an American economist serving as the 14th director of the National Economic Council since February 21, 2023. She previously served as the 22nd vice chair of the Federal Reserve between May 2022 and February 2023. Prior to her term as vice chair, Brainard served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, taking office in 2014. Before her appointment to the Federal Reserve, she served as the under secretary of the treasury for international affairs from 2010 to 2013.
Jason Furman is an American economist and professor at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. On June 10, 2013, Furman was named by President Barack Obama as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). Furman has also served as the deputy director of the U.S. National Economic Council, which followed his role as an advisor for the Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign.
The Hamilton Project is an economic policy initiative within the Brookings Institution. It was originally launched in April 2006 by a combination of public policy makers, business people, academic leaders, and other former Clinton administration economists and experts. The Hamilton Project "seeks to advance America’s promise of opportunity, prosperity, and growth." It went dormant after U.S. President Barack Obama assumed office in 2009, because many of its members left to work for the White House, but in 2010, it was relaunched with Michael Greenstone as the new director.
Douglas William Elmendorf is an American economist who is the dean and Don K. Price Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He previously served as the Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) from 2009 to 2015. He was a Brookings Institution senior fellow from 2007 to 2009, and briefly in 2015 following his time at the CBO, and was a director of the Hamilton Project at Brookings.
Peter Blair Henry, an economist, was the ninth Dean of New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business, and William R. Berkley Professor of Economics and Business, and author of TURNAROUND: Third World Lessons for First World Growth. Previously, he was the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of International Economics at Stanford University.
Bruce J. Katz is an urban policy expert and author. He is currently the Director of the Nowak Metro Finance Lab at Drexel University, having formerly served as the inaugural Centennial Scholar and Vice President at the Brookings Institution.
Michele Jolin is an American social entrepreneur and policymaker. She is the CEO and co-founder of Results for America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to using evidence-based practices to get results-driven solutions. She is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress focusing on building a policy environment to support social entrepreneurship. She was appointed by President Obama in December 2010 to be a member of the White House Council for Community Solutions. In 2016, Jolin was elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
James M. Goldgeier is a professor of international relations at the School of International Service at American University in Washington, D.C., where he served as dean from 2011 to 2017.
Karen Dynan is an American economist who is Professor of the Practice of Economics at Harvard University and a Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. She previously served as the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and Chief Economist of the United States Department of the Treasury, having been nominated to that position by President Barack Obama in August 2013 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in June 2014. From 2009 to 2013, Dr. Dynan was the Vice President and Co-director of the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution. Prior to joining Brookings, she served on the staff of the Federal Reserve Board for 17 years. Dr. Dynan is an expert on macroeconomic policy, consumer behavior, household finance, and housing policy.
Steven Radelet is an American economist working within the field of International Development. He holds the Donald F. McHenry Chair in Global Human Development and is also the Director of the Global Human Development Program (GHDP) at Georgetown University, a program of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.
Susan M. Collins is an American economist who has served as the 14th president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston since July 1, 2022. She is the first African American woman and first woman of color to lead any of the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks. Collins previously served as the 16th provost and executive vice president for academic affairs of the University of Michigan from 2020 to 2022.