Ari Matusiak
Special Assistant to the President and Director of Private Sector Engagement
Ari Matusiak is Special Assistant to the President and Director of Private Sector Engagement, where he serves as Executive Director of the White House Business Council, coordinating the Administration’s interaction with the business community. In that role, he helps to ensure that entrepreneurs, small business owners and corporate and financial leaders alike are aware of and have input into the Administration’s efforts to spur job creation and promote our long-term economic competitiveness. Ari has extensive experience in community and economic development and in building strategic collaboration between the public and private sectors. He is the co-founder and former chairman of Young Invincibles, a nationally recognized 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 capacity, 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 served as a fellow on Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee in the United States Senate. He graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University and cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was also named a Public Interest Law Scholar. He is originally from Wisconsin and is a diehard Green Bay Packers fan.
