Gadi Dechter is a senior director and leads the public affairs practice in APCO’s Washington, D.C., office. Mr. Dechter guides a team that integrates strategic communication, issues management and government relations expertise to deliver desired policy outcomes for corporate, association and nonprofit clients.

Before joining APCO, Mr. Dechter was a senior adviser to the White House National Economic Council and National Security Council under President Barack Obama. At the White House, he was responsible for overseeing signature presidential initiatives on foreign direct investment and supply chain finance, as well as a broad portfolio including small business, entrepreneurship and immigration. Mr. Dechter also served the administration as deputy director of policy and strategic planning at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he oversaw the development and launch of Secretary Penny Pritzker’s policy agenda.

Before joining the Obama Administration, Mr. Dechter was managing director of economic policy at the Center for American Progress (CAP), a Washington think tank. At CAP, Mr. Dechter managed the day-to-day operations of the economic policy department, overseeing the development of policy proposals on the federal budget, tax reform, labor, housing, municipal finance, government reform, technology, workforce development and other areas.

Mr. Dechter was a journalist before transitioning to public policy, working as an investigative reporter for Bloomberg News in Washington, and as a politics and higher education reporter at the Baltimore Sun. He has taught public policy communications at George Washington University and Georgetown University.
Mr. Dechter holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins.