Charles Kolb | National Coalition on Health Care

President; Committee for Economic Development

Charles Kolb is President of the Committee for Economic Development (CED) located in Washington, D.C. CED is an independent, nonpartisan organization of over 200 business and education leaders dedicated to economic and social policy research and the implementation of its recommendations by the public and private sectors. He has held this position since September 1997. 

Prior to joining CED, he served as General Counsel and Secretary of United Way of America from 1992 to 1997. During nearly ten years of government service, he held several senior-level positions. He served as Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, The White House (1990-1992). At the White House, he worked on economic, education, legal, and regulatory policy issues. From 1983 to 1990, he held three other government positions: Assistant General Counsel, Office of Management and Budget (1983-1986); Deputy General Counsel for Regulations and Legislation, U.S. Department of Education (1986-1988); and Deputy Under Secretary for Planning, Budget and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Education (1988-1990).

Prior to government service, he practiced law at two Washington, D.C., law firms: Covington & Burling and Foreman & Dyess. He also was a law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Joseph H. Young in Baltimore, Maryland.

He received his undergraduate degree at Princeton University and did graduate work at Balliol College, Oxford University, from which he received a Master’s Degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.  He holds a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Virginia Journal of International Law. He is also the author of a book on policymaking in the Bush White House and numerous law review and op-ed articles.

He lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife, Ingrid, and their daughter, Charlotte Amanda.