From undergraduate student at UMBC to Chief Economist and Under Secretary of Economic Affairs for the Department of Commerce under the Obama administration, Mark Doms ’86, mathematics and economics, has spent his career as an economist focused on economic public policy.
Specializing in monetary policy, forecasting, labor force developments, innovation, big data, and applied microeconomics, Doms has made hundreds of presentations about the U.S. economy and appeared regularly as a subject-matter expert on CNBC’s Squawk Box and Bloomberg. His highly-cited research is published regularly in top journals, earning Doms recognition in the top 3% of economists as measured by citations.
“Mark’s distinguished record of government service, along with a publication and Google Scholar citation count would be the envy of most academic economists,” said David Mitch, professor of economics and chair of the department at UMBC.
While a student at UMBC, Doms worked with the economics faculty to measure the costs and benefits of the Maryland vehicle emissions program. In a position he landed with the help of UMBC faculty, Doms also worked part-time as a student for a private company, assisting with the evaluation of a random design experiment of a welfare to work program.
After graduating from UMBC, Doms went on to pursue a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From there, Doms held positions at the Board of Governors for the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C., before transferring to the Federal Reserve in San Francisco. In 2009, Doms joined the Obama administration as Chief Economist at the Department of Commerce, advising the Administration on a wide variety of issues, including trade, competitiveness, innovation, and education. In this role he oversaw and authored reports on the middle class, intellectual property, broadband adoption, productivity, and STEM education. In January 2013, the U.S. Senate confirmed Doms as Under Secretary for Economic Affairs at the Department of Commerce, a position that oversaw the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, comprising more than 10,000 staff and budgets exceeding $1 billion.
After leaving the Obama administration, Doms worked for two years at Nomura Securities, Japan’s largest investment bank. There he monitored economic developments, developed economic forecasts, and traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and Asia. While Doms continues exploring his next step professionally, he remains thankful for the wonderful – and affordable – education that UMBC provided.
— Amy Dalrymple
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See the full list of 2018 Alumni Award honorees here.
Tags: Alumni, Alumni Awards, Alumni Awards 2018
