Brett House
Brett House is a seasoned economist and commentator with two decades of experience in academia,
policymaking, and financial markets. Across a range of roles, his work has been unified by a focus on
finding ways to make economies and markets work better for people. Brett’s writing and research has
looked at the drivers of economic growth and development; ways to anticipate, prevent, and resolve
financial crises; proposals to improve our tools for restructuring sovereign debt; assessments of
international trade and capital flows; and mobilizing finance for poverty reduction.
Brett is currently an Advisor to Tau Investment Management, an impact fund based in New York that is
working to transform global garment supply chains; a Visiting Scholar at Massey College in the University
of Toronto; and a Senior Fellow with the Jeanne Sauvé Foundation in Montréal. He was previously a
Senior Fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), a Lecturer in the
Department of Economics at McGill University, and a Chazen Visiting Scholar at Columbia Business
School.
Based in New York from 2007 to 2012, Brett was a Global Strategist in the early years of Woodbine
Capital Advisors, a macro hedge fund. Prior to joining Woodbine, Brett served as a Principal Advisor on
economic and financial issues in the Executive Office of the United Nations’ Secretary-General, Ban Kimoon. He was concurrently Senior Macroeconomist and Policy Advisor at the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP), as well as Senior Macroeconomist at The Earth Institute at Columbia
University. In these roles, Brett worked with the Secretary-General and his Special Advisor, Prof. Jeffrey
Sachs, on the international effort to respond to the financial crisis and to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs).
Over seven formative years from 2000 to 2007, Brett was an Economist at the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) in Washington, DC, where he worked on a wide range of country lending programmes in
Latin America and Africa, IMF policy reforms, and the design of financial instruments. He also chaired
the IMF’s GLOBE. Earlier, he taught and conducted research in Oxford, where he was Director of Studies
and Assistant Junior Dean at Keble College, as well as Junior Dean at Jesus College. He cut his teeth in
junior roles with the World Bank and Goldman Sachs International.
Brett’s research has been published in academic journals including Science, the Georgetown Journal of
International Affairs, and De Economist, the Royal Dutch Economic Society’s record, as well as by the
IMF and UNDP. His writing on a range of economic issues has appeared in publications such as The
Financial Times, Fortune/CNN Money, the IMF’s Finance & Development, The Globe and Mail, The
National Post, The Montreal Gazette, La Presse, The Toronto Star, The Mail & Guardian, The Hindustan
Times, Quartz, OpenCanada, The Huffington Post, and Policy Options. He has been a frequent
commentator on CBC radio and television, CTV, and Global TV, as well as local radio in Toronto and
Montréal. Brett has also provided analysis on international financial issues to media outlets from the US,
United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, South Africa, Argentina, Qatar, and Mongolia.
Brett completed an MPhil in Economics at the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar; he
is a candidate for the DPhil (Doctorate) in Economics. He also pursued graduate studies at the University
of Cape Town, where he was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar and Lecturer. Brett holds a Bachelor of Arts
(Honours, First Class) from Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario and was a Keast Scholar at the
University of St Andrews.
In 2010, the World Economic Forum (WEF) recognized Brett as a Young Global Leader and in 2014 he
received the Québec Notable Award in Finance. Brett is also a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a
Salzburg Global Fellow, a Next Generation Fellow of the American Assembly, a member of the Banff
Forum, and an alumnus Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Brett participates as a
member of the UN Experts Group on Sovereign Debt Restructuring and the Bretton Woods Committee.
He also serves as Vice-Chair of the investment committee for Pearson College, founding chair and board
member of the US Foundation for Pearson College, board member (investment committee) of the
Canadian Rhodes Scholars Foundation, and a member of the President’s Advisory Council for Canada
World Youth. As a Crohn’s Disease survivor, he has been an active fundraiser and speaker for the
Crohn’s & Colitics Foundations of America and Canada.
Brett was raised in Vineland Station, Ontario and spent his summers in the Niagara region’s fruitlands.
He is passionate about Canada’s heritage and has been active in organizing efforts to save the 120-year
old one-room schoolhouse in which he went to kindergarten. Brett is also an avid distance runner,
three-time Ironman, and backcountry skier.