Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell Joins Brookings

The Honorable Edward G. Rendell, after leaving office as governor of Pennsylvania, will join the Brookings Institution as a distinguished senior fellow, Brookings President Strobe Talbott announced today.

Starting on February 1, Rendell will work with the Metropolitan Policy Program to advance the program’s key initiatives on reinvigorating the nation’s metropolitan economies with particular emphasis on transportation and energy infrastructure. The newly established fellowship in public innovation recognizes former elected officials who have made extraordinary achievements at the state or local level.

“Governor Rendell has a long and proven track record of enhancing the competitive potential of Philadelphia and the state of Pennsylvania. His seasoned expertise will be of great value in the corridors of the federal government, state capitals and city halls around the country,” said Bruce Katz, vice president and director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings. “We’re delighted to add his nationally recognized perspective to advancing our program’s priorities and investments in building the next economy.”

Rendell comes to Brookings with extensive government credentials that include two terms as governor of Pennsylvania, following two terms as mayor of Philadelphia. A veteran of 14 primary and general election campaigns, Rendell has become a leading voice on the short and longer term potential of transportation and clean energy development to boost employment and bolster America’s global competitiveness. In 2008, he joined with then-California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to launch the Building America’s Future coalition, which aimed to focus attention on infrastructure issues in the 2008 elections.

“The United States needs to get serious about creating the mechanisms, federal and state, to invest in necessary infrastructure to move America’s goods and ideas to market and the clean energy to power our economy,” Rendell said. “We are challenged across the globe by other nations literally reinventing themselves whole cloth. I’m looking forward to being at Brookings and the Metropolitan Policy Program to advance this crucial agenda.”

Rendell, a frequent contributor to major national news publications and a guest on broadcast and cable news programs, will participate and lead Metro seminars and panels that advance the Metropolitan Policy Program’s agenda around state and metro policy initiatives that support the need for a new economic growth model.

Rendell’s political career began in 1977 when he was elected district attorney for the city of Philadelphia, a position he held until he launched his first gubernatorial campaign in 1985, which ended in with a primary loss. In 1991, Rendell was elected mayor of Philadelphia, a position he held for eight years, winning two terms in office. In 1999, he stepped down to assume the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee. Two years later, Rendell launched his second successful campaign to become governor of Pennsylvania. During his tenure, he served as chairman of the National Governors Association.