Leadership Changes: NBER Retirement Research Center and Disability Research Center

From: James Poterba <poterba_at_nber.org>
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2016 15:52:57 -0400

Dear Research Colleagues –

David Wise, the founding director of both the NBER Retirement Research
Center and the Disability Research Center, retired from his
administrative roles on June 30, 2016.David played an extraordinary part
in identifying important research topics, convening meetings and other
opportunities for scholarly exchange, and drawing both young researchers
and experts in related fields to study issues that are central to the
RRC and DRC missions.I hope that you will join me in thanking him for
his many years of outstanding service.

I am very pleased to announce the new leadership teams for both
centers.The new director of the NBER DRC is David Autor, the Ford
Professor of Economics at MIT.David has written seminal papers on
disability policy; he previously served as the associate director of the
NBER DRC.Joining him as the new associate director is Nicole Maestas,
who is an Associate Professor of Health Care Policy at the Harvard
Medical School.Nicole has done pioneering work on the labor market
effects of disability insurance.Jeffrey Liebman, the Malcolm Weiner
Professor of Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government,
who previously served as associate director of the NBER DRC, will
continue his leadership role as a Senior Adviser.David, Nicole, and Jeff
are all NBER Research Associates.

The new director of the NBER RRC is Jeffrey Brown, the Josef and Margot
Lakonishok Professor and Dean of the Business School at the University
of Illinois.Jeff, who previously served as associate director of the
RRC, has made central contributions to the study of retirement wealth
accumulation, to pension policy, and to the draw-down of retirement
assets.Joining him as associate directors are James Choi and Courtney
Coile.James, Professor of Finance at Yale’s School of Management, has
done pioneering work on how defaults and other plan design features
affect retirement saving.Courtney, the Class of 1966 Associate Professor
of Economics at Wellesley College, has made important contributions to
understanding the interplay between labor market conditions, Social
Security, and retirement well-being.Jeffrey Liebman will also serve as a
Senior Adviser for the NBER RRC.Courtney, James, and Jeff are also all
NBER Research Associates.

I know that these new leaders, who are exceptional scholars as well as
outstanding research managers, will build on the firm foundations laid
by David Wise, and that they will enhance our research community’s
ability to contribute to the scientific basis for both retirement
security and disability policy design.Please join me in welcoming them
to their new roles.

Jim Poterba
Received on Wed Jul 13 2016 - 15:56:49 EDT