Ms. Thea Lee, the head of the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), will become the fifth think tank president to be tapped by the Biden Administration.
In an April 22 statement, Lee, who became president of the union-friendly think tank in 2018, said that she has accepted a job in the Biden Administration and will be leaving EPI on May 7.
EPI's board of directors, led by Board Chairman Richard Trumka and the executive committee, will organize a national search for the next president. In the meantime, John Schmitt will be the interim president of EPI.
Dr. Schmitt has been vice president of EPI since Jan. 1, 2018. He started his career as an economist at the think tank from 1995 to 2001. He later spent 10 years as a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) and was research director at the Center for Equitable Growth.
There are now more than 100 think tankers in senior-level positions within the Biden Administration, according to Think Tank Watch's latest count.