Elise Golan

Elise H. Golan is the Director for Sustainable Development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In this role, she provides leadership in planning, coordinating, and analyzing the Department’s policies and programs related to sustainable agricultural development. Prior to taking this position, Dr. Golan served as the Associate Director of the Food Economics Division at the Economic Research Service, USDA. Before joining USDA, she did consulting work for, among others, the World Bank, the International Labor Organization, and the California Department of Finance. Elise served as a Senior Staff Economist on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers from 1998-99. She received her Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Golan’s research has spanned a wide range of sustainability issues, including land tenure and sustainable land management in the Sahel and West Africa; regional and U.S. food-system modeling; food labeling and market development; food access, affordability, and security; and the distributional consequences of food policy.