Peter Orszag

Peter R. Orszag is CEO of Financial Advisory at Lazard Freres & Co LLC. He leads the firm’s advisory businesses that serve companies and governments across the globe. Previously, he was the firm’s Head of North American Mergers & Acquisitions and Global Co-Head of Healthcare.

Before joining Lazard, Peter served as Vice Chairman of Corporate and Investment Banking and Chairman of the Financial Strategy and Solutions Group at Citigroup, Inc. Prior, he was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and Contributing Columnist at the New York Times.

Peter’s public sector service was built upon his economic and healthcare expertise. He served as Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Obama Administration, a Cabinet-level position, from January 2009 until July 2010. From January 2007 to December 2008, Peter was Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Under his leadership, the agency significantly increased its focus on climate change and healthcare.

Peter serves on the Board of New Visions for Public Schools, a nonprofit that promotes access to high-quality education for all NYC public school students, regardless of economic status. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, a nonprofit that advises on national and international issues of health, medicine, and related policy. Peter is also on the Boards of Mt. Sinai Medical Center and Peterson Institute for International Economics. He is a contributing writer for Bloomberg and has co-authored or co-edited a number of books, including: Protecting the Homeland (2006), Saving Social Security: A Balanced Approach (2004), and American Economic Policy in the 1990s (2002).

An alumnus of Princeton University, Peter graduated summa cum laude with a BA in economics, later earning a PhD in economics from The London School of Economics, which he attended as a Marshall Scholar. He holds an honorary doctorate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.