Robert Gordon is a Senior Fellow at the Better Government Lab and the executive vice president for state initiatives at the Recoding America Fund, a new philanthropic initiative focused on building state capacity. He has had a long career working to improve government performance and advance economic mobility.

Most recently, Robert served as Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Mobility at the Domestic Policy Council of the White House, handling education, housing, anti-crime, and anti-poverty initiatives, among others. Prior to that, he served as Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, leading several efforts to streamline grant and service delivery while saving taxpayers money.

Between 2019 and 2021, Robert was director of the Department of Health & Human Services for the State of Michigan, playing a key role early in the pandemic response. During the Obama-Biden Administration, Robert served as an acting deputy director and executive associate director at the Office of Management & Budget, guiding the Administration's evidence-based policy initiatives. Earlier in his career, Robert 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, and a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Outside government, Robert has worked as a senior vice president for global strategy and finance at the College Board, and, while a Skadden Fellow, as law guardian for children in abuse and neglect proceedings for the Juvenile Rights Division of Legal Aid in the Bronx, New York.

Robert's work has been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Politico. He has a J.D. from Yale and a B.A. from Harvard.