Ari Matusiak
Executive Director of the White House Business Council
Ari Matusiak serves as executive director of the White House Business Council, one of the Administration’s main vehicles for engaging the private sector and civic leaders on jobs and the economy. Ari has extensive experience in community and economic development and developing strategic connections between the public and private sectors. He is the co-founder and former chairman of Young Invincibles, a national organization dedicated to improving the economic opportunities for 18 to 34 year olds. Prior to moving to Washington, Ari was vice president for strategy and community impact at The Rhode Island Foundation, one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the country. While in Rhode Island, Ari also directed HousingWorks RI, a statewide affordable housing coalition and campaign. In that role, he led a successful statewide referendum campaign for affordable housing production that leveraged nearly $500 million in additional investment, doubled the production of affordable housing and created thousands of good paying jobs in the state. Ari graduated with honors from Brown University and from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was a Public Interest Law Scholar. He is originally from Wisconsin and is a diehard Green Bay Packers fan.
![President Obama to Barnard College: "Fight for a Seat at the Head of the Table"](http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/imagecache/blog_featured_content/imagecache/embedded_img_full/image/image_file/20120514-barnard.jpg "President Obama to Barnard College: "Fight for a Seat at the Head of the Table"")
