People

Gene Sperling

Gene Sperling

Formal First Name
Eugene (Gene)
Link
Dates
12/24/1958 - present

Gene Sperling is the first person to serve as Director of the National Economic Council and principal economic policy advisor for two Presidents: under President Clinton and under President Obama. He is highly regarded as one of the top White House economic advisors across the political spectrum. Sperling provides a unique perspective on the intersection between the United States and the global economy as well as the most pressing economic policy issues today. In addition to his economic work, Sperling also specializes in education in poor and conflict-affected nations.

  • Sperling is a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
  • Under President Obama, he served as a key negotiator on fiscal issues and an architect of the payroll tax cut, expansions of tax credits for low-income Americans, the Small Business Jobs Act, and the American Jobs Act. 
  • Under President Clinton, he was a key architect of the 1993 Deficit Reduction Act and its major expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit and a top negotiator of the 1997 Bipartisan Balanced Budget Act.
  • He served as a lead policy advisor on fiscal, budget, tax, job creation, and small business issues at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
  • He advises several of the current Democratic presidential candidates.
  • He consulted for four seasons on NBC’s award-winning political drama The West Wing.
  • He currently heads Sperling Economic Strategies, which advises financial companies, start-ups, Fortune 500 companies, and philanthropies.
  • He has appeared as a guest on Real Vision.