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Since January 1999, Rick has held the position of Special Assistant to the President for International Economic Policy. As a senior member of the National Economic Council staff in the White House, he assists the President on a range of international trade and financial policy matters, including “new issues” in trade policy (e.g., labor, environment, biotechnology, developing country institution building, etc.), international debt and development, and African economic affairs. From 1996 - 1999, Rick served as Economic Policy Advisor to Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD). He assisted Senator Daschle on international trade and monetary, tax, and broad economic policy issues. From 1993-6, Rick was Associate Director of the Competitiveness Policy Council, a bipartisan federal advisory commission chaired by Dr. C. Fred Bergsten. He was responsible for international trade issues and, as Staff Director of the Council's Subcouncil on Capital Allocation, coordinated the work of a panel of 30 experts co-chaired by Harvard Professor Michael Porter and Salomon Inc. Chairman Robert Denham that examined how federal policies influence the composition of private investment. The Subcouncil's 1995 report, Lifting All Boats: Increasing the Payoff from Private Investment in the US Economy, recommended coordinated reform of tax, securities, financial institution, and accounting laws and regulations to improve the contribution by private investment to productivity and economic growth. Prior to joining the Competitiveness Policy Council, Samans was an International Affairs Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations based at the Goldman Sachs International in London, England and the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. During this period, he worked in the international fixed income derivatives markets and wrote about the connection between international financial integration and the growing pressure on countries to coordinate a variety of structural economic policies traditionally viewed as domestic policy concerns. From 1988 to 1991, Samans was Professional Staff Member of the Senate Banking Committee and Senior Legislative Assistant to its Chairman, former Senator Donald W. Riegle, Jr. (D-MI). He was responsible for international trade, international finance, capital formation, and labor issues and directed the staff of a task force of 15 Democratic Senators appointed by Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-ME) that developed the defense conversion legislation enacted in 1990, the anti-recession (extended unemployment insurance benefits) legislation enacted over a presidential veto in 1991, and a medium-term economic policy strategy to raise the nation's rate of productivity growth. From 1985-1988, Rick was Legislative Assistant to former Representative Don J. Pease (D-OH), a member of the House Committee on Ways and Means. He staffed the congressman's work on international trade and financial issues. Prior to working on Capitol Hill, Rick was a corporate lending officer in the Wall Street headquarters of Credit Lyonnais USA, the US subsidiary of a major French bank. He helped manage the bank's global relationship with Fortune 1000 clients in the New York and New England areas. Samans received his Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in New York, NY. He specialized in Economic and Political Development, International Banking and Finance, and International Business. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics and French from Tufts University in Medford, MA. Samans also served as an Adjunct Faculty Member and Guest Lecturer in International Relations and International Political Economy at The American University's School of International Service in Washington, DC. A native of Pennsylvania and Delaware, Rick is married and resides in Washington, DC.
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