Two years after its launch, the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator (VPA) is rapidly establishing itself as a national hub for cutting-edge economic policy research and innovation. Today, VPA announces a new phase of growth, with the addition of key senior staff, distinguished senior fellows, and renowned advisory committee members. This expansion further solidifies its leadership in policy areas such as AI and Technology, Competition and Regulation, Industrial Policy and Economic Security, and Public Options and Governance.
“The Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator is an important part of our university’s commitment to addressing society’s most pressing challenges through rigorous research and policy innovation,” said Vanderbilt Provost Cybele Raver. “With this exceptional team of experts, VPA is poised to shape national conversations and drive meaningful, research-driven changes in economic policy.”
New Leadership Team
VPA has appointed three dynamic directors to lead policy areas:
Margaret Mullins, Director of Public Options and Governance is a national security expert with experience at the Department of Defense, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. Army, including serving as an intelligence officer in Afghanistan.
Asad Ramzanali, Director of Artificial Intelligence & Technology Policy previously served as chief of staff and deputy director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and worked in the private sector at Intuit.
Brian Shearer, Director of Competition & Regulatory Policy brings deep expertise in market fairness from multiple roles at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), where he spearheaded major regulatory initiatives, including junk fee prohibitions, data privacy rules, and medical debt reforms.
These hires round out VPA’s team of project directors, joining Joel Dodge who serves as Director of Industrial Policy & Economic Security.
“We’re assembling a world-class team of policy leaders who bridge academia, government, and industry,” said Ganesh Sitaraman, Director of the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator. “Their experience in shaping high-impact policies at the highest levels of government will ensure VPA is at the forefront of economic and technological policy debates.”
Distinguished Senior Fellows
VPA is also welcoming four accomplished senior fellows:
Mary Bridges, historian of the twentieth-century United States and author of the book Dollars and Dominion: US Bankers and the Making of a Superpower. She is the Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy at Harvard University’s Belfer Center and previously held postdoctoral fellowships at Yale University and Johns Hopkins SAIS.
Erie Meyer, first Chief Technologist at the CFPB, former Chief Technologist at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and earlier in her career co-founded the U.S. Digital Service. She previously served in the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, the White House, and Code for America.
Stephanie Nguyen, former Chief Technologist at the FTC, where she built the agency’s first Office of Technology, working on enforcement matters across the agency. She conducted investigative research as a research scientist at MIT’s Media Lab and at Consumer Reports, and served in the U.S. Digital Service.
Reed Showalter, former Senior Policy Advisor for Competition at the White House National Economic Council. He previously worked on antitrust enforcement and policy at the Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission, and Congress.
Influential Advisory Committee
VPA has added two leading economic thinkers to its advisory committee:
Julius Krein, founder of American Affairs and chairman of the New American Industrial Alliance.
Simon Johnson, Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship at the MIT Sloan School of Management, 2024 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences co-recipient, and former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Krein and Johnson join VPA’s existing advisory committee members:
Oren Cass, founder and chief economist of American Compass, and former domestic policy director for Sen. Mitt Romney.
Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London, and Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose (IIPP).
Elizabeth Wilkins, president and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute.
A Center of Gravity in Economic Policy
From antitrust to trade, swift changes are taking place that are reshaping how policymakers and the general public think about economic policy. These changes create an opportunity to advance new, cross-partisan paradigms, research, and policy ideas. “This expansion represents a pivotal moment for the organization,” said Grace May, Executive Director of VPA. “In the coming months, our ambitions across legal scholarship, academic field-building, and policy impact will only grow to match the talents and energy of this team.” To date, VPA has released academic articles, white papers, and policy blueprints on issues ranging from airline industry regulation and banking reform to designing public grocery stores to combat food deserts. Some of VPA’s policy ideas have already been introduced in Congress as bi-partisan legislation.
About the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator
The Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator for Political Economy and Regulation (VPA) focuses on cutting-edge topics in political economy and regulation to swiftly bring research, education, and policy proposals from infancy to maturity. To learn more about our work, visit vu.edu/vpa.
