Joe Rooney

Joe Rooney is the vice president of executive affairs at Brookings. Rooney joined Brookings in 2012, following two decades of serving as a nonprofit leader in finance and operations in New York City and Baltimore. Before joining the executive office, Rooney worked with Brookings Metro, managing the program’s strategic planning and operational excellence efforts, improving finance and business processes, and working to provide staff the tools and support they needed to work at their best. Rooney left Brookings for two years to serve as the associate dean for finance and administration at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, where he oversaw budget and finance, human resources, ITS, facilities, and security–including serving as crisis response director for the school as it addressed the COVID pandemic. He returned to Brookings in 2021.

Rooney was previously the chief operating officer of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals in Washington, D.C., an international member organization. He also served as both the chief financial officer and vice president of operations for the New 42nd Street in New York City, the organization responsible for the adaptive reuse of eight historic theaters on 42nd Street. Rooney also was managing director of Denham Wolf Real Estate Services, providing consulting and brokerage services for nonprofit organizations throughout New York’s boroughs, including working closely with the New York City and New York State Economic Development Corporations.

Rooney received his MBA from Columbia University in the City of New York, where he was presented with the Joanne Martin Award for Public and Nonprofit Management, and he received his bachelor’s degree from Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon.