Investing in Resilience:
A Conversation with Judith Rodin and Shaun Donovan
Shaun Donovan was sworn in as the 40th Director of the Office of Management and Budget
on July 28, 2014.
Prior to OMB, Donovan served as the 15th Secretary of the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he managed the Department’s $47
billion budget – helping families buy homes, aiding households in fighting off foreclosure,
revitalizing distressed communities and combating homelessness. While at HUD, Donovan
made critical investments to speed economic growth, while also offering new savings
proposals and ensuring fiscal responsibility.
In December 2012, President Obama signed an Executive Order creating the Hurricane
Sandy Rebuilding Task Force and appointed Donovan as Chair. This appointment built on his
experience with disaster-related recovery and rebuilding challenges from a national perspective in response to
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Together with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, he led the President’s
Long-Term Disaster Working Group composed of more than 20 federal agencies. The Group worked closely with
state and local communities, as well as experts and stakeholders from around the nation, to create the National
Disaster Recovery Framework published in 2011.
Prior to his service in the Obama Administration, Secretary Donovan also served in the Clinton administration as
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing at HUD, where he was the primary federal official responsible for
privately-owned multifamily housing. He also served as acting FHA Commissioner during the Clinton/Bush
presidential transition. Prior to his first service at HUD, he worked at the Community Preservation Corporation (CPC)
in New York City, a non-profit lender and developer of affordable housing. He also worked at the Joint Center for
Housing Studies at Harvard University and as an architect. Donovan holds a B.A. and Masters degrees in Public
Administration and Architecture from Harvard.
Judith Rodin is president of The Rockefeller Foundation, one of the world’s leading
philanthropic organizations. She was previously president of the University of
Pennsylvania, and provost of Yale University. Since joining the Foundation in 2005, Dr.
Rodin has recalibrated its focus to meet the challenges of the 21st century and today
the Foundation supports and shapes innovations to expand opportunity worldwide and
build greater resilience by helping people, communities and institutions prepare for,
withstand and emerge stronger from acute shocks and chronic stresses. The
Foundation accomplishes these goals through work that advances health, revalues
ecosystems, secures livelihoods and transforms cities.
In November 2012 New York Governor Andrew Cuomo named Dr. Rodin to co-chair the NYS 2100 Commission on
long-term resilience following Superstorm Sandy.
A pioneer and innovator throughout her career, Dr. Rodin was the first woman named to lead an Ivy League Institution
and is the first woman to serve as The Rockefeller Foundation's president. Dr. Rodin serves as a member of the board
for several leading corporations and non-profits. Dr. Rodin is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and earned
her Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University.
Sarah Rosen Wartell became the third president of the Urban Institute in February
2012. A public policy executive and housing markets expert, Ms. Wartell was President
Bill Clinton's deputy assistant for economic policy and the deputy director of his
National Economic Council. At the Department of Housing and Urban Development
from 1993 to 1998, she advised the federal housing commissioner on housing finance,
mortgage markets, and consumer protection. In 2012, she was named a “Woman of
Influence” by HousingWire.
Ms. Wartell cofounded the Center for American Progress, serving as its first chief
operating officer and general counsel. Later, as executive vice president, Ms. Wartell oversaw its policy teams and
fellows. Her work focused on the economy and housing markets, and she directed the Mortgage Finance Working
Group and "Doing What Works" government performance program. Ms. Wartell practiced law with the Washington,
DC, firm of Arnold & Porter and was a consultant to the bipartisan Millennial Housing Commission.
Ms. Wartell has an AB degree with honors in urban affairs from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of
Public and International Affairs and holds a JD degree from Yale Law School.