Bio
Aaron “Ronnie” Chatterji, Ph.D. is the Mark Burgess & Lisa Benson-Burgess Distinguished Professor of Business and Public Policy at Duke University. Ronnie works at the intersection of academia, public policy and business, investigating the most important forces shaping our economy and society. His primary appointment is in the Fuqua School of Business, from where he has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles in the top journals in strategic management, economics, finance and organizational studies and two books, “Can Business Save the Earth?” (Stanford University Press) and “The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Economic Growth” (University of Chicago Press).
Chatterji is committed to public service, both at the national level and in his home state of North Carolina. He most recently held senior economic policy positions in the Biden Administration. Chatterji served as the White House CHIPS coordinator, overseeing the implementation of the $52 billion CHIPS and Science Act, one of the largest industrial policy initiatives in a generation. He was also the Acting Deputy Director of the White House National Economic Council, overseeing the Administration’s work on supporting American manufacturing, building more resilient supply chains, and driving technological innovation. Prior to his White House role, he served as the Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he was the principal economic adviser to the Secretary of Commerce and responsible for policy development related to U.S. competitiveness, innovation, trade and economic growth.
Ronnie previously worked for President Obama as a Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). Chatterji served on the North Carolina FIRST Commission and the Governor’s Entrepreneurial Council, two statewide bodies advising Governor Roy Cooper on economic policy. During his sabbatical leave in 2020, Ronnie ran for State Treasurer of North Carolina, winning the statewide primary election and earning more than 2 million votes in the general election.
He has received several awards for his research, including the Kauffman Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in entrepreneurship, the Rising Star award from the Aspen Institute, and the Strategic Management Society Emerging Scholar award. Chatterji has authored several op-ed pieces in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, including influential essays introducing the concept of CEO activism with co-author Michael Toffel. He writes widely for management and policy audiences with several recent pieces in Harvard Business Review and for the Brookings Institution.
Ronnie has won multiple teaching awards at Duke, both for his teaching in the core curriculum and electives. He created a new elective on business and politics that was profiled in national media and became one of the most popular courses at the Fuqua School of Business. He is a frequent keynote speaker and experienced facilitator who has worked with top companies in finance, healthcare, technology, energy, retail, real estate and sports.
Chatterji is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and was previously a visiting Associate Professor at The Harvard Business School. He also holds a secondary appointment at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy.
Ronnie was previously a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and worked as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs. He received his Ph.D. from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley and his B.A. in Economics from Cornell University.