Lauren Larson

Lauren Larson is a nonresident fellow at Brookings and a federal and state fiscal policy expert, with CFO and Board leadership roles in corporate, nonprofit, and government sectors. She was appointed budget director in Colorado by two governors, a Cabinet position where she led the state’s fiscal response to the COVID-19 pandemic and developed the first state-driven economic stimulus package during a lull in federal aid. Larson was elected by her peers in the 50 states to be president of the National Association of State Budget Officers. 

Larson also was a leader at the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB), where she served as chief of the Treasury branch under Presidents Bush and Obama and deployed the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to provide relief to banking, insurance, and mortgage industries. Earlier in her OMB career, she analyzed the systemic risk of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the economy, identified fraud in the $500 billion FHA mortgage insurance fund, and advised the U.S. Senate Banking Committee on the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. 

Larson was the CFO for Natcast, a multi-billion dollar R&D accelerator to advance U.S. semiconductor competitiveness; a corporate tax economist for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP; and also senior advisor at the U.S. Treasury Internal Revenue Service.

She holds degrees from Syracuse University (BA) and the University of Michigan (MPP). Larson serves on the Advisory Committee for the Brookings Institution Municipal Finance Conference, the Public Sector Advisory Committee for T-Mobile, and on the Board of Directors of the National Academy of Public Administration, a Congressionally chartered nonprofit.