Ben Gitis

Ben Gitis is an associate director for BPC’s Economic Policy Program. Before joining BPC, he was deputy policy director on the team that helped Howard Schultz, the former CEO of Starbucks, consider an independent run for President of the United States. Before that, he was director of labor market policy at the American Action Forum, where he researched and wrote about paid family leave, the opioid crisis, the minimum wage, and immigration, among others. Gitis was a member of the American Enterprise Institute-Brookings Institution Working Group on Paid Family Leave, where he developed a model for estimating the cost of paid leave proposals. He also worked at the American Action Forum as a policy analyst, providing research assistance to former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin and conducting his own original labor market policy research.

Gitis’ studies are regularly referenced by major media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Associated Press, Reuters, among others. He has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, NPR, and local television and radio news programs across the country. He has also written opinions for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Examiner, and The Hill. He regularly advises members of Congress and their aids, and testified before the House Small Business Committee on the labor market effects of the opioid crisis.

Gitis received a B.A. from Davidson College, where he graduated magna cum laude with Honors in Economics and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He also spent a year studying economics in Hertford College, University of Oxford.