Don Graves has spent three decades at the center of American economic and national security policy—as a trusted advisor to two presidents, a senior Cabinet official, and one of the country's most effective practitioners of place-based economic development.

As the 19th Deputy Secretary of Commerce, he served as Chief Operating Officer of a department of nearly 50,000 people and a $160 billion budget, while simultaneously shaping the Biden Administration's agenda on critical and emerging technologies, industrial strategy, national security, international trade, and commercial space. He authored Commerce's first-ever National Security Strategy, The Decisive Decade, and led trade missions to Korea and Japan to deepen U.S. partnerships on semiconductors, AI, cybersecurity, and clean technology. President Biden named him Puerto Rico Economic Growth Coordinator, where he led a whole-of-government effort across 17 federal agencies that resulted in more than $140 billion in federal investment and 100,000 new jobs—the most ambitious place-based federal recovery effort of the Biden era.

During the Obama Administration, Graves was appointed by President Obama to serve as Executive Director of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, advising the President directly on economic strategy and American competitiveness. He was simultaneously tapped to lead the federal government's effort to stabilize Detroit during and after bankruptcy—coordinating 20+ agencies and more than $300 million in targeted investment in what became a defining model of federal-local partnership. He went on to serve as Counselor and Domestic and Economic Policy Director to then-Vice President Biden, one of the most trusted advisory roles in the Obama White House. At the U.S. Department of the Treasury, he oversaw the CDFI Fund, the $4 billion Small Business Lending Fund, and the $1.5 billion State Small Business Credit Initiative.

Between his government roles, Graves led corporate responsibility and community relations at KeyBank, overseeing a $16.5 billion Community Benefits Plan—bridging the gap between institutional capital and the communities that need it most.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Williams College and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, where he received the Dean's Award.