Dennis C. Shea

Dennis C. Shea is the Executive Director of the J. Ronald Terwilliger Center for Housing Policy. His past work with the Bipartisan Center (BPC) includes serving as a consultant to the BPC’s blue-ribbon Housing Commission and its Senior Health and Housing Task Force. In these roles, he contributed to two landmark reports, Housing America’s Future: New Directions for National Policy and Healthy Aging Begins at Home. During the Administration of President George W. Bush, Shea served as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Immediately prior to joining the BPC, Shea served as Deputy U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland. At the WTO, Shea led an interagency team charged with advancing U.S. interests on issues ranging from trade in goods and services to e-commerce, intellectual property protection and agriculture. He also spearheaded U.S. efforts to achieve meaningful WTO reform. Earlier in his career, Shea served as deputy chief of staff and counsel to Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and as policy director for the 1996 Dole for President campaign.

Shea has a strong record of working with colleagues from both sides of the aisle to achieve positive results. In 2003, he was named as Executive Director of the bipartisan President’s Commission on the United States Postal Service. Many of the Commission’s recommendations were later reflected in the 2006 postal reform law. For more than 10 years, Shea was a member of the bipartisan and influential U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission and served as either Chairman or Vice Chairman of the Commission from 2012 to 2017.

Shea received a J.D., an A.M. in History and an A.B. in Government, all from Harvard University.