Pavneet Singh

Pavneet Singh is a nonresident fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings. He is currently examining how machine learning software and advanced analytics can solve complex data challenges in industries ranging from financial services, healthcare, and oil and gas.

Pavneet Singh served in several roles on the National Security Council (NSC) and National Economic Council at the White House. Most recently, he served as a director for international affairs, working in the trade war room to build the administration's case for passing Trade Promotion Authority, the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union. In addition, Pavneet managed the U.S.-China and U.S.-India economic relationships, including serving as the NSC’s lead director for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit in Beijing, and in the development of the president’s economic deliverables for the bilateral summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Pavneet also led the economic policy process for the president’s historic participation in Republic Day in New Delhi. In addition, Pavneet coordinated and executed the U.S.-India CEO forum, a gathering of 30 of the leading American and Indian CEOs designed to highlight impediments to, and opportunities for, greater trade and investment between the United States and India.

From 2011 to early 2013, Pavneet was the senior advisor to Deputy National Security Advisor Mike Froman, and provided strategic advice and policy guidance across a portfolio that included trade, energy, climate, export promotion, and managing the U.S. economic relationships with emerging economies such as Brazil, India, China, and Indonesia. Pavneet was also a key member of the president’s policy team in preparation for the G-7, G-20, and APEC Leaders’ Summits.

Prior to the White House, Pavneet worked as an analyst on the World Bank’s Commission on Growth and Development. The commission’s deliberations spanned two years and brought together 21 leading economists, policymakers, and private sector practitioners from emerging and industrial economies (including Nobel Laureates Michael Spence and Robert Solow) to explore the economic, social, and political factors necessary for sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

Before the World Bank, Pavneet served as the acting assistant director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution.

Pavneet earned his master’s with distinction in international relations at Georgetown University where he was an Institute for the Study of Diplomacy fellow and a Yahoo! fellow. He earned his undergraduate degrees in business administration and political economy from University of California, Berkeley. He currently lives with his wife in Menlo Park, California.

EDUCATION

• M.S., International Affairs, Georgetown University, 2008
• B.S., Business Administration, University of California, Berkeley, 2003
• B.A., Political Economy, University of California, Berkeley, 2003