Rachel Lipson
![Woman with long brown hair wearing a gray blazer and white top, smiling, standing in a library or office setting.](https://socialfinance.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Lipson-headshot-HU-400x500.png")
Rachel Lipson: Research Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School; Resident Scholar, Aspen Institute Economic Strategy Group; non-resident senior fellow, Brookings Metro
Rachel Lipson is a Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, a Resident Scholar at the Aspen Institute Economic Strategy Group, and a non-resident senior fellow at Brookings Metro. Her current research focuses on a new generation of technical jobs, many fueled by AI and other emerging technologies, that do not require a four-year degree. She also studies how education, labor market institutions, and public policy can adapt to technological disruption and help workers through economic transitions.
From 2023 to 2025, Rachel served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s CHIPS Program Office, where she helped launch the workforce strategy for the $50 billion federal investment in domestic semiconductor manufacturing. Prior to joining the federal government, she served as the founding director of the Project on Workforce at Harvard.
Rachel is the author of The New American Frontier: Job Training for the Next Technological Age and co-editor of America’s Hidden Economic Engines. Her writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, Washington Post, Newsweek, and The Hill, and her research has been featured by NPR, Bloomberg, and The Economist. She has held economic policy roles across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, including at the World Bank, JPMorgan Chase, and Year Up.
Rachel graduated from Harvard College and holds an MBA and MPP from Harvard. She is a recipient of the Harvard Certificate of Distinction and Excellence in Teaching, the Frederick Fischer Prize, and a Harvard Business School Leadership Fellowship.