Labor and Employment Core Advisory Committee

The Harkin Institute is in the process of establishing its Core Advisory Committee on Labor and Employment, which will provide direction and guidance on the types of research and events pursued in this area.

Bernstein joined the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in May 2011 as a senior fellow. From 2009 to 2011, Bernstein was the chief economist and economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, executive director of the White House Task Force on the Middle Class, and a member of President Obama’s economic team. Bernstein’s areas of expertise include federal and state economic and fiscal policies, income inequality and mobility, trends in employment and earnings, international comparisons, and the analysis of financial and housing markets. Bernstein has published extensively in various venues and is an on-air commentator for the cable stations CNBC and MSNBC. He holds a Ph.D. in social welfare from Columbia University.

Laphonza Butler
President, SEIU Local 2015; Vice President, SEIU California State Council; SEIU International, Vice President

Butler is the President of SEIU Local 2015 – the statewide long term care union that has united the voices of more than 325,000 SEIU nursing home and home care workers throughout California. It is the largest union in California and the largest long term care local in the country. Since its formation on June 2, 2015, Local 2015 members have celebrated historic victories – including the passage of the nation’s first $15 statewide minimum wage. Butler also serves as an SEIU International Vice President and President of the SEIU California State Council. Butler is a graduate of Jackson State University, in Jackson, MS.

Heidi Shierholz
Senior Economist and Director of Policy at Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

Shierholz leads EPI’s policy team, which monitors wage and employment policies coming out of Congress and the administration and advances a worker-first policy agenda. Her research and insights on labor and employment policy, the effects of automation on the labor market, wage stagnation, inequality, and many other topics routinely shape policy proposals and inform economic news coverage. Shierholz received her Bachelor’s in Mathematics at Grinnell College. She has a Master of Science in Statistics from Iowa State University, and a Master of Arts in Economics from University of Michigan. Shierholz holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan.

David Weil
Dean and Professor, Heller School of Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University

Weil is an internationally recognized expert in employment and labor market policy. He co-founded and co-directed the Transparency Policy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and has advised international organizations as well as government agencies at the state and federal levels. He is also the author of more than 100 articles and five books. Prior to joining the Heller School, Weil served as the administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the United States Department of Labor under President Obama. Weil earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, a master’s in public policy from the Kennedy School and a PhD in public policy from Harvard.

Retirement Security Core Advisory Committee

Michael Kreps
Principal, Groom Law Group

Prior to his work at Groom Law Group, Kreps served as the Senior Pensions and Employment Counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. There, he managed the committee’s retirement agenda and was responsible for pension legislation and oversight of regulatory activities involving employee benefit plans. Kreps is a member of both the Alexandria Commissions on Aging and Human Rights and the Sorensen Institute Political Leaders Program. He received a J.D., with honors, from The George Washington University Law School.

Donna Mueller
Retired CEO, Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System (IPERS)

Mueller came to IPERS in 2003 from the Boston Retirement Board, where she served as CEO. Prior to that, she worked for the Boston Mayor’s Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing. Mueller started her career as an attorney for Wisconsin Judicare, Inc., and later became the organization’s deputy director. She is the past president of the National Association of State Retirement Administrators. Mueller earned a J.D. from Washington and Lee University and is a graduate of the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s program for senior executives at Harvard University. She is also certified by the Institute of Chartered Pension Professionals.

Andrew Eschtruth
Associate Director for External Relations, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

Before joining the Center in 1999, Eschtruth was a senior research analyst with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) specializing in Social Security, federal fiscal policy, and the economic implications of an aging population. He has a B.A. from the University of Michigan and an M.A. in public policy from Duke University. Eschtruth is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and is a co-author (with Charles D. Ellis and Alicia H. Munnell) of Falling Short: The Coming Retirement Crisis and What to Do About It (Oxford University Press, 2014).

Larry Zimpleman
Retired Board Chairman, Principal

Though he retired from his formal role at Principal in 2016, Zimpleman continues to serve the board of directors as an advisor. He joined the company in 1971 as an actuarial intern, and over the course of more than 40 years, served Principal in various management and leadership positions, including CEO, executive vice president, and president of retirement and investor services. Zimpleman has served as the chair of the board of trustees for the Employee Benefit Research Institute and was a two-time delegate to the National Summit on Retirement Savings. He holds an MBA from Drake University.