Accounting professor Erin Towery has always loved Washington D.C. — the monuments, the museums, the history, and the sense of pride that comes with serving one’s country.
Towery, the J.M. Tull School of Accounting KPMG-Atlanta Partners’ and Employees’ Professor, will get a chance to immerse herself in D.C.’s culture of service in August when she takes a one-year post as a senior economist in the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA).
“I think it will be an amazing opportunity,” Towery said. “I feel very, very honored and grateful. I’m excited, although also a little nervous about moving and getting used to a new routine — but mainly excited.”
The CEA was established in 1946 as part of the larger Executive Office of the President. Senior economists working under the CEA are a non-partisan group of researchers who provide the president with objective economic advice. The council bases its recommendations and analysis on economic research and empirical evidence.
Each year, economists and researchers from U.S. universities are chosen to serve according to the legislative and policy issues facing the White House. Towery was recruited to serve as a senior economist because of her tax policy expertise. Towery’s research lies at the intersection of taxation, financial reporting and corporate finance. She thinks she will likely spend her term looking at the economy-wide implications of emerging and expiring tax regulations.
Towery is one of the first — if not the first — accountant in the CEA’s history to serve as a senior economist.
During her time in D.C., Towery will be on leave from her position at UGA.