Akbar Naqvi is as an analyst for the Office of Technology’s Policy Team. In this role, he serves as a subject matter expert for evidence-building and data-driven initiatives across various programs in OTT. His expertise lies in data analysis and program evaluation.
He previously served as an Economist and Program Analyst at the Economic Development Administration (EDA) within the Department of Commerce. In this position, he addressed complex data inquiries from high-level entities, including Congressional offices, the Office of the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Assistant Secretary, and Deputy Assistant Secretaries, providing crucial insights into significant economic development issues, demonstrating an ability to communicate complex data in an accessible manner.
He helped update EDA’s program evaluation framework for economic development grants, based on surveys given to grantees of new capacity-building programs, along with an econometric analysis of these programs using third party data sources. Most notably, he acted as a project manager and quantitative expert in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory in the creation of the National Economic Research and Resilience Center (NERCC), an EDA-funded initiative housed under ANL’s Office of Decision Sciences. This project was instrumental in enhancing EDA's data analysis and management capabilities as part of the COVID-19 economic recovery.
He holds a B.A in Economics from the College of William & Mary and is currently about to complete a master’s in public policy at Georgetown University. In his free time, Akbar enjoys watching basketball, playing video games and trying out new restaurants with his wife. He was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Fairfax County, Virginia.