Van Doorn Ooms, Ph.D. :::
Van Doorn Ooms, Ph.D.
Graduated in 1952
Inducted in 2001
A 1952 Lyons Township High School graduate, Van Doorn Ooms has analyzed the federal budget and our nation's economy for nearly three decades. He has advised national policymakers on economic and budget policy as Chief Economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget, Chief Economist of the Office of Management and Budget, and Executive Director for Policy for the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on the Budget. Since 1991, he has been Senior Vice President and Director of Research for the Committee for Economic Development (CED), an independent research and educational organization of some 250 business leaders and educators. At CED, he has directed and supervised CED's national policy statements on a wide range of topics such as education reform, social security and pensions, international finance and trade policy, and campaign finance reform. A former economics professor at Swarthmore College, Ooms has written extensively on national budget and economic policies. He graduated summa cum laude from Amherst College, took first class honors as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, and earned a Master's degree and a Doctorate with distinction in economics from Yale University.