Dr. Monica Gorman joined the Biden-Harris Administration in March 2021 as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing. In this role, Dr. Gorman directs the U.S. Department of Commerce’s efforts to advance the global competitiveness of manufacturing industries through the development and execution of international trade and investment policies and promotion strategies. She oversees the Office of Transportation and Machinery, the Office of Energy and Environmental Industries, and the Office of Health and Information Technology.
Prior to her appointment, Dr. Gorman worked for nearly two decades in the private sector, where she spent much of her time walking factory floors in the United States and around the world. She was Vice President of Responsible Leadership & Global Compliance at New Balance Athletics, Inc., for 9 years, where she led a worldwide team responsible for compliance, social and environmental responsibility, and trade matters related to U.S. manufacturing and global supply chains. She also held executive roles earlier in her career with the fashion apparel brands, American Eagle Outfitters and Gap Inc.
Dr. Gorman served as an industry representative on Commerce’s Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Textiles & Apparel for more than a decade. She also served lengthy tenures on the Board of Directors for the Fair Labor Association, the United States Footwear Manufacturers Association, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cotton Board. She is a past Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2020, she was named a Presidential Leadership Scholar.
The daughter of an Austrian immigrant, Dr. Gorman is originally from the Eastern Shore of Maryland and grew up in Texas. She earned her BA (summa cum laude) from Dartmouth College, and her MPhil and PhD from the University of Oxford, England, where she was a Rotary Scholar. She lives with her family in the Washington DC metro area.