Jonathan Marc Orszag is an American economist and former government official. He is a Senior Managing Director at

Compass Lexecon Compass Lexecon is a global economic consulting firm with headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. It provides analysis of economic issues for use in legal and regulatory proceedings, strategic decisions, and public policy debates. Compass Lexecon LLC ...

, LLC, an economic consulting firm. Orszag was a co-founder of Compass Lexecon (or Competition Policy Associates), which was sold to FTI Consulting, Inc. (NYSE: FCN) in 2006. His work has been recognized in ''The International Who's Who of Competition Economists'' and ''Global Competition Review''. During the Bill Clinton administration, Orszag served within the National Economic Council (NEC) as an economic policy advisor.

Early life and education

Orszag is the son of Reba Karp, owner of a research and development company, and

Steven Orszag Steven Alan Orszag (February 27, 1943 – May 1, 2011) was an American mathematician. Life and career Orszag was born to a Jewish family in Manhattan, the son of Joseph Orszag, a lawyer.Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

.Yale Bulletin: "In memoriam: Steven Alan Orszag"
May 11, 2011 He has two brothers, Michael Orszag and

Peter Orszag Peter Richard Orszag (born December 16, 1968) is the CEO of Financial Advisory at Lazard. Before June 2019, he was the firm's Head of North American M&A and Global Co-Head of Healthcare. Orszag previously served as a Vice Chairman of Corporate ...

, the former Director of the

Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, pol ...

. Orszag's paternal great-grandparents were

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

immigrants from Hungary who immigrated to New York City in 1903.''U.S. News & World Report'': "10 Things You Didn’t Know About Peter Orszag" By Carol S. Hook
November 25, 2008 Orszag graduated from

Phillips Exeter Academy (not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God) , location = 20 Main Street , city = Exeter, New Hampshire , zipcode ...

in 1991 and received his bachelor's degree in economics from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1996. In 1997, Orszag graduated from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

with an

M.Sc. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in economic and social history.

Career

Government service and political activity

In 1994, Orszag was appointed to serve as the Special Assistant to the Chief Economist at the

U.S. Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the United States federal executive departments, executive departments of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of fede ...

. He next moved to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

in 1995 to serve as an Economic Policy Advisor on President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

's National Economic Council. In 1999, the

Corporation for Enterprise Development Prosperity Now, formerly known as the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED), is a national nonprofit based in Washington, DC, dedicated to expanding economic opportunity for low-income families and communities in the United States. CFED u ...

gave Orszag its leadership award for "forging innovative public policies to expand economic opportunity in America." From 1995 to 1996, Orszag was an economic consultant to

James Carville Chester James Carville Jr. (born October 25, 1944) is an American political consultant, author, and occasional actor who has strategized for candidates for public office in the United States and in at least 23 nations abroad. A Democrat, he is an ...

while he wrote the book ''We're Right, They're Wrong: A Handbook for Spirited Progressives.'' Orszag served as the Assistant to the Secretary of Commerce and Director of the Office of Policy and Strategic Planning from 1999 to 2000. During the 2000 presidential election, Orszag worked on the Gore-Lieberman campaign as director of policy preparations for the vice presidential debate. From 2000 to 2003, the Governor of California appointed Orszag to both the California Workforce Investment Board and the Governor's Technology Advisory Group. In 2004, Orszag was a commentator for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', writing on economic issues of note in the 2004 presidential election.

Private sector

When Orszag left government, he founded Sebago Associates, the predecessor firm to Compass Lexecon, with his brother

. Orszag is currently a senior managing director and member of the Executive Committee. Orszag currently serves on the boards of JMP Securities, Inc. and the Academic and Regulatory Advisory Council for One River Asset Management. Orszag works on

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

matters, including giving testimony before the

European Court of First Instance The General Court, informally known as the European General Court (EGC), is a constituent court of the Court of Justice of the European Union. It hears actions taken against the institutions of the European Union by individuals and member sta ...

in its 2007 case, '' Microsoft Corp v. Commission''. Orszag has also worked on a number of large mergers, including

Aetna Aetna Inc. () is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans, ...

Humana Humana Inc. is a for-profit American health insurance company based in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2021, the company ranked 41 on the Fortune 500 list, which made it the highest ranked (by revenues) company based in Kentucky. It has been the thir ...

, GE/

Electrolux Electrolux AB () is a Swedish multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. It is consistently ranked the world's second largest appliance maker by units sold, after Whirlpool. Electrolux products sell under a variety ...

, Agrium/

Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, also known as PotashCorp, was a company based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The company merged with Calgary-based Agrium to form Nutrien, in a transaction that closed on January 1, 2018. The company was th ...

Orbitz Orbitz.com is a travel fare aggregator website and travel metasearch engine. The website is owned by Orbitz Worldwide, Inc., a subsidiary of Expedia Group. It is headquartered in the Citigroup Center, Chicago, Illinois. Background Origina ...

Expedia Expedia Inc. is an online travel agency owned by Expedia Group, an American online travel shopping company based in Seattle. The website and mobile app can be used to book airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruise ships, and vacat ...

OfficeMax OfficeMax is an American office supplies retailer founded in 1988. It is now a subsidiary of The ODP Corporation, which is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. As of December 2012, OfficeMax operated 941 stores in 47 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S ...

Office Depot The ODP Corporation is an American office supply holding company headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. The company has combined annual sales of approximately $11 billion, and employs about 38,000 associates with businesses in the United States. ...

, Staples/Office Depot,

Omnicom Omnicom Group Inc. is an American global media, marketing and corporate communications holding company, headquartered in New York City. Omnicom's branded networks and specialty firms provide services in four disciplines: advertising, customer re ...

Publicis Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and public relations company. One of the oldest and largest marketing and communications companies in the world by revenue, it is headquartered in Paris. After 1945, the little-known Paris ...

Entercom Audacy, Inc. is an American broadcasting company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications Corporation, it is the second largest radio company in the United States, owning 235 radio stations across 48 media ...

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic (T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland (T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobile ...

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...

Northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

, the

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...

search deal,

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

Dresser-Rand Dresser-Rand is an American engineering and manufacturing company owned by Siemens Energy. The company designs, manufactures, and services equipment used in the extraction of petroleum and natural gas. The company was formed in 1986 as a joint v ...

, and

Global Crossing Global Crossing was a telecommunications company that provided computer networking services and operated a tier 1 carrier. It maintained a large backbone network and offered peering, virtual private networks, leased lines, audio and video con ...

/ Level 3. He's also served as an expert witness in the California matter, '' Hewlet-Packard Co. v Oracle Corp.''

Personal life

Orszag is married to entertainment journalist Mary Kitchen. The couple has three children. Orszag serves on boards of the Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and the

Tiger Woods Foundation TGR Foundation was established in 1996 by Tiger Woods and his father, Earl Woods, to create and support community-based programs that improve the health, education, and welfare of all children in America. Currently, the foundation has establish ...

. Orszag serves as a Trustee of

The First Tee First Tee is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that teaches children life skills, self-confidence, and resilience through golf lessons. First Tee reaches more than 3.6 million youth annually through programs delivered at chapter program locations, ...

and was formerly a senior fellow at the

Center for American Progress The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a public policy research and advocacy organization which presents a liberal viewpoint on economic and social issues. It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The president and chief executive officer ...

. He is also a member of the Good+ Foundation's Fatherhood Leadership Council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orszag, Jonathan Clinton administration personnel American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Living people Marshall Scholars Alumni of St Cross College, Oxford People from Lexington, Massachusetts Center for American Progress people Economists from Massachusetts 21st-century American economists Year of birth missing (living people) Law and economics scholars Princeton University alumni Phillips Exeter Academy people American economists Orszag family