Lecturers at the Jefferson Educational Society

Bruce J. Katz is the co-author (with Jeremy Nowak) of The New Localism: How Cities Can

Thrive in the Age of Populism and (with Jennifer Bradley) of The Metropolitan Revolution:

How Cities and Metros are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy. Both books

explain why cities and their networks have emerged as the world’s leading problem-solvers.

Katz’s experience extends to policy-making at the national level, as well. He was chief of staff

for U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros during the Clinton

administration and was the senior counsel and then staff director for the U.S. Senate

Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs. After the 2008 presidential election, he co-led

the housing and urban development transition team for the Obama administration and served

as a senior advisor to the new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Secretary Shaun

Donovan, for the first 100 days of that administration.

Katz left government employment to join the Brookings Institute as vice president and

founding director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. From 2016-2018 he was the

Institute’s first Centennial Scholar, focusing his research on the challenges and opportunities

of global urbanization.

He is now a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation and the

co-founder and inaugural director of the Nowak Metro Finance Lab. Also a visiting professor

at the London School of Economics, he regularly advises global, national, state, regional and

municipal leaders on public reforms and private innovations that advance the well-being of

metropolitan areas and their countries.

In 2006, Katz received the prestigious Heinz Award in Public Policy for his contributions to

understanding the “function and values of cities and metropolitan areas and profoundly

influencing their economic vitality, livability and sustainability.” He is a graduate of Brown

University and Yale Law School.