Robert Gordon

Robert Gordon serves as the Deputy Director of Economic Mobility, Domestic Policy Council, The White House.

Previously, he served as the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources, Department of Health and Human Services. He worked as a senior counselor at the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities and senior advisor for Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan. He has worked in key government positions across three decades. Most recently, Gordon served as director of the Department of Health & Human Services for the State of Michigan, playing a central role in the state’s pandemic response, expanding access to health care, and addressing racial disparities. During the Obama-Biden Administration, Gordon served as an acting assistant secretary at the Department of Education, and as acting deputy director and executive associate director at the Office of Management & Budget. Among other responsibilities, Gordon guided key early childhood and evidence-based policy initiatives. Earlier in his career, Gordon served as a senior official at the New York City Department of Education, driving an equity-focused school finance reform; a senior aide on Capitol Hill; a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; and a White House aide helping create the AmeriCorps program. Gordon co-chaired the agency review team for the Department of Health and Human Services for the Biden-Harris Transition, and served on two transition teams previously.

Gordon has also worked as senior vice president for strategy and finance at the College Board and as a law guardian for children in abuse and neglect proceedings. In addition to the University of Michigan, he has been a fellow at the Urban Institute, the Brookings Institution, and the Center for American Progress. His writings on policy have been published in The New York Times, Politico, and The Atlantic. He and his wife, Catherine Brown, have two sons.