Former Director of Private Sector Engagement, White House
Washington, DC
But now that the funding is being distributed, the Commerce Department says the U.S. is on track to produce about 20% of the world’s most advanced chips by 2030. That’s something that would be impossible without the CHIPS funding, according to Zach Butterworth, who formerly worked as Biden’s White House director of private sector engagement.
“It’s an industry we lost in the ’90s,” he said. “And without government intervention, it would not be coming back at this scale.”
The White House honed the approach during its initial Covid-19 response. It rolled out plans for sweeping new regulations like requiring employers to give workers paid time off to get vaccinated, while simultaneously encouraging companies in private to get out ahead by instituting their own similar policies — and showering praise on them when they did.
“If we could find a company that was willing to take the first step, then that was always an opening to bring other companies along,” said Zach Butterworth, who until recently served as the White House’s liaison to the business community. He added that the goal was to create a pervasive sense within the private sector that “if you weren’t taking these steps, you were outside the mainstream.”
Zach Butterworth, White House director for private sector engagement, said the healthcare portion of the bill primarily benefits small business owners and employees and people who are self-employed.
“Since the creation of the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces in 2014, and those premium tax credits, they played a really critical role in providing affordable quality health insurance coverage for people who don’t get health care through their jobs,” Butterworth said. “So we know that many small business owners use these marketplaces themselves, and then some small businesses are so small that a lot of their employees are actually accessing their health insurance through the marketplaces.”
The meetings were in part the result of an effort from the Biden administration to take advantage of the growing rift between corporate America and the Republican Party as they seek to sell the nation on more than $2 trillion in tax hikes.
“We have prioritized business outreach; we think they have an important role to play and that their voice is important,” said Zach Butterworth, the White House’s director of private sector engagement. “They know we’re operating in good faith and that we’re proposing policies that are good for workers and good for business.”
Zach Butterworth is an attorney who advises public and private sector leaders on law, public policy, and strategy. He has spent his career building bipartisan coalitions to change laws and fix intractable problems, whether in city hall, on Capitol Hill, or in the White House.
He most recently served as the Director of Private Sector Engagement in the White House Office of Public Engagement where he was the point person in the Biden-Harris Administration for the business community, working closely with senior administration officials, CEOs, D.C. office heads, and trade associations. In the White House, Zach was a member of the Supply Chains Disruption Task Force that responded to numerous economic crises. He was also on the team negotiating and implementing the American Rescue Plan, CHIPS and Science Act, Inflation Reduction Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Other positions in government include Executive Counsel to Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for the City of New Orleans, Legislative Director and Counsel to U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, and Senior Counsel to Congressman Cedric Richmond.
Zach received his undergraduate degree at Louisiana State University and a Law Degree from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. A passionate outdoorsman and former USCG OUPV licensed captain, Zach enjoys spending time outside with his wife and children.
