Dr. Shapiro is the Chairman of Sonecon, LLC, a private firm that advises U.S. and foreign businesses, governments and non-profit organizations. Dr. Shapiro has advised, among others, President Bill Clinton, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, and numerous members of the U.S. and U.K. cabinets and U.S. Congress; private firms including Amgen, AT&T, Google, Gilead Sciences, Exxon-Mobil, Nordstjernan of Sweden, and Fujitsu of Japan; and non-profit organizations including the Education Finance Council, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and PhRMA.  He is also an adviser to the Internaigtonal Monetary Fund, chair of the U.S. Climate Task Force, co-chair of the Argentina Task Force America, and director of the Globalization Initiative of NDN.

From 1997 to 2001, Dr. Shapiro was U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs. In that position, he directed economic policy for the Commerce Department and oversaw the Nation’s major statistical agencies, including the Census Bureau while it planned and carried out the 2000 decennial census. Prior to that appointment, he was co-founder and Vice President of the Progressive Policy Institute and the Progressive Foundation. He was the principal economic advisor to Governor Bill Clinton in his 1991-1992 presidential campaign and a senior economic advisor to Vice President Al Gore and Senator John Kerry in their presidential campaigns.  In 2008 and 2012, Dr. Shapiro advised the campaigns of Barack Obama.  He also served as Legislative Director for Senator Daniel P. Moynihan and Associate Editor of U.S. News & World Report.  

He has been a Fellow of Harvard University, the Brookings Institution, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and the Fujitsu Institute.  He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from Harvard University, a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an A.B. from the University of Chicago.