Mr. Eric Morrissette is the Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Minority Business Development, where he leads the Minority Business Development Agency in its service of the nation’s nearly 10 million minority business enterprises. After more than 52 years in existence, in 2021 President Biden signed the Minority Business Development Act of 2021 expanding and making permanent MBDA as the United States’ newest federal agency. Mr. Morrissette was appointed to lead the agency on January 12, 2024.
As Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary, Mr. Morrissette has served as the principal advisor to the Deputy Secretary and part of the Department’s leadership team supporting priorities on minority entrepreneurship, place-based economic development, and national security. Prior to serving in this role, Mr. Morrissette was the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs where he worked to successfully pass the Minority Business Development Act of 2021, in addition to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act.
Prior to joining the Department of Commerce, Mr. Morrissette served in various impactful posts in the Federal Government that include serving as Deputy Chief of Staff for U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, managing the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, International Development, and Monetary Policy, service in both analysis and operations at the CIA, working in the Office of Board Members for the U.S. Federal Reserve, and operating under U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer as a legislative aide. In all these posts, Mr. Morrissette has worked to drive equity, transparency, and positive change on behalf of the country.
Mr. Morrissette holds a Bachelor’s in Political Science, Public Policy, and Political Philosophy from Syracuse University and a Masters in Global Public Policy from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, where he was a Global Public Policy Fellow and Bryce Harlow Fellow. Mr. Morrissette is originally from Brooklyn, New York, and lives in Maryland with his wife, Rexanah P. Wyse Morrissette, Esq., and their brilliant and beautiful infant daughter.