White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett addresses reporters during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S. February 22, 2018.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump on Friday announced senior staff appointments to his White House National Economic Council.
The council advises the President on U.S. and global economic policy.
The appointments come three days before Trump is set to be sworn in as president.
“I am pleased to announce the brilliant team who will serve on the White House National Economic Council (NEC) under Kevin Hassett, one of the world’s most respected economists,” Trump said in a statement.
“We will unleash a renaissance in American prosperity and innovation by putting our Nation’s Citizens, Families, and Businesses first,” Trump said.
The appointees are:
- Robin Colwell, as deputy assistant to the president for economic policy and deputy director of the NEC. Colwell previously was a principal at BGR Group, and served in the White House during Trump’s first term as special assistant to the president for technology, telecom and cybersecurity policy.
- Nels Nordquist as deputy assistant to the president for economic policy and deputy director of the NEC for international economics. He was formerly a staff director for the Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance and International Financial Institutions of the House Financial Services Committee.
- Paige Willey as deputy assistant to the president for economic policy and deputy director of the NEC. She previously served on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s executive leadership team.
- Ryan Baasch as special assistant to the president for economic policy, focusing on technology, telecom, and cybersecurity. Baasch had earlier served as Texas associate deputy attorney general, supervising the office’s civil enforcement divisions.
- Emory Cox as special assistant to the president for international economic relations. Cox has served as senior economic advisor to Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.
- Cale Clingenpeel as special assistant to the president for economic policy focusing on trade, immigration and labor. Clingenpeel previously was chief economist of Greenmantle, a macroeconomic and geopolitical advisory firm.
- Andrew Lyon as special assistant to the president for economic policy focusing primarily on tax policy. Lyon served as deputy assistant secretary under President George W. Bush and as senior staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisers under President George H. W. Bush.
- Jeff Wrase as special assistant to the president for economic policy focusing on financial regulation and banking. Wrase served as chief economist on the congressional Joint Economic Committee, the House and Senate Budget Committees and the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
- Joel Zinberg as special assistant to the president for economic policy focused on health care and deregulation. Zinberg served in the first Trump administration as a senior economist and general counsel at the White House Council of Economic Advisers. He practiced general surgery and surgical oncology for nearly 30 years as an associate clinical professor of surgery at Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine in New York.
