As Special Advisor to President Barack Obama, Mr. DeSeve oversaw the successful implementation of the $787 Billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

He is currently Advisor to the Agile Government Center at the National Academy of Public Administration and a Visiting Fellow of the IBM Center for the Business of Government.

His career has included work in finance, academia and government.  Mr. DeSeve was the founder and president of Public Financial Management- the United States’ largest independent financial advisor to governments.  At Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, he was a managing director in charge of public finance in a 20 state region.

Additional government service at the federal level included being Controller and Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget as well as the Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He was the Director of Finance for the City of Philadelphia and served as a Special Assistant to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

He held a tenured professorship of Public Management and Finance at the University of Maryland and was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. For Brookings Executive Education, DeSeve served as Executive in Residence. He was Executive Director of the State Budget Crisis Task Force, founded by Richard Ravitch and Paul Volcker, to examine the financial condition of states following the global financial crisis.

At each level of government, Mr. DeSeve oversaw complex fiscal affairs. He was instrumental in balancing Philadelphia’s budget during two fiscal crises. At OMB, he helped balance the federal budget for the first time in more than a generation.  While at OMB, he oversaw the fiscal reforms of the District of Columbia that led to its return to investment grade ratings with strong budget and cash surpluses.

He is the author of numerous publications including, The Presidential Appointees’ Handbook (Second Edition Brookings 2017).  At the National Academy of Public Administration, he served as Vice Chair and co-authored its first Fiscal Future Report in 2005 warning of the coming federal deficits.  He was awarded the Kenneth Howard award for career public service in financial management by the American Society of Public Administration. He serves as a member of the selection committee of the Harvard University Ash Center Innovations in American Government Award.

He is a graduate of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and has a Master’s in Public Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.