Robert Shapiro Biography and Net Worth

Robert J. Shapiro was appointed to the Overstock board of directors in February 2020. He currently serves on the audit committee.

Dr. Shapiro is the chairman and founder of Sonecon, LLC, a private firm that advises U.S. and foreign businesses, governments and non-profit organizations on economic and security-related matters. He has advised, among others, U.S. President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Vice President Al Gore, Jr., U.K. Foreign Minister David Miliband, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Timothy Geithner, and many senior members of the Obama administration, the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. He and Sonecon also have advised senior officials of the Departments of Defense and Energy; senior executives at private firms including AT&T, Elliot Management, Exxon-Mobil, Gilead Sciences; and Google, and non-profit organizations including the International Monetary Fund, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Center for American Progress.

Dr. Shapiro is also a senior fellow of the Georgetown University Center for Business and Public Policy, director of the NDN Center on Globalization, chief strategist for Brand Transact, and a member of the advisory boards of Gilead Science and Cote Capital. From 1997 to 2001, he was U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs. Prior to that, he was co-founder and vice president of the Progressive Policy Institute and, before that, the legislative director and economic counsel to Senator Daniel P. Moynihan.

Dr. Shapiro also served as the principal economic advisor to Bill Clinton in his 1991 to 1992 presidential campaign, and as a senior economic advisor to Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2016 and, before that, to the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, John Kerry and Al Gore, Jr. Dr. Shapiro has been a fellow of Harvard University, the Brookings Institution, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and the Fugitsu Institute.

Dr. Shapiro holds a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Chicago, a master of science degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a doctor of philosophy degree and master of arts degree from Harvard University.