Until June 2019, Brian Blasé served as part of the Trump administration with the National Economic Council in the White House in Washington, D.C. In July, however, he started his own economic policy consulting firm, Blase Policy Strategies LLC.
At Penn State, Blasé studied political science and mathematics with a specialty in actuarial science. He was also a member of the Schreyer Honors College. In 2013, Blasé earned his Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University.
During his time at Penn State, Blasé participated in a variety of extracurriculars and operated in multiple positions. For about a year-and-a-half, he was an opinion columnist for the Daily Collegian. He was also an active member of the College Republicans for most of his time at Penn State.
As a member of the honors college, Blasé was active both academically and socially. For his first three years at Penn State, he lived in the Imperial House, which is the third floor of Atherton, the honors dormitory. Academically, Blasé found that the honors college provided a good foundation for research he had to perform in his later careers as well as providing him with lifelong relationships.
In his last position as special assistant to the President and the director of the National Economic Council, Blasé coordinated economic policy development among the executive branch. He provided advice in health policy to the President. Blasé delivered briefings to the President in relation to health policy and was the primary author of an executive order that the President signed. The order was called “Enhancing Choice and Competition Across the U.S. Health Care System.” It called for several actions in efforts to increase affordable coverage choices. Blasé was responsible for coordinating actions that are consistent with the executive order.
Prior to working in the White House, Blasé taught math in high schools for a few years, but was determined to get into public policy, so he pursued his Ph.D. in economics. He then went on to be a health policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC. This was at the time Obamacare passed into law, and Blasé was tasked with becoming an expert in all aspects of the law. Quickly, he was offered to work for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and he stayed there from mid-2011 to mid-2014. There, he led congressional oversights for Obamacare and other entitlement programs. He then worked on the Senate Republican Policy, where he performed research and analysis and assisted senate staff with health legislation and health programs from mid-2014 to mid-2015. After that, he went on to serve as a research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. In that role, he performed research and commentary and was involved in media coverage of their work.
Blasé keeps busy with his wife and five kids, in addition to a heavy workload. He hopes to soon return to visit Penn State.