Getting it done.
Bert has 15 years of experience across the federal government and the private sector spanning Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley. At the end of March '25, he concluded one year of service at the U.S. Department of Commerce as an Expert Consultant. There, he served as Senior Advisor to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and then as a Senior Advisor to the incoming team at the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), focusing on industry engagement related to national security export controls on critical technology.As Senior Advisor to U.S. Secretaries of Commerce Penny Pritzker ('13-'16) and Gina Raimondo ('24-'25), he managed the Secretaries’ relationships with senior business leaders (CEOs, founders, investors) domestically and internationally. In between government appointments, he was the senior communications, policy, and regulatory executive at autonomous vehicle maker Zoox from its earliest days through three CEOs, two large equity financings and Amazon’s 2020 acquisition. He is a co-founder and was executive director of Business Forward, a trade association supported by America’s most respected companies to foster engagement between business leaders and policymakers.Through his independent advisory practice, he has worked with firms and individuals on M&A matters, private equity financings, complex executive transitions, public listings, product launches, public policy and regulatory strategy, crisis communications, as well as corporate positioning campaigns.He has bachelor’s, master’s, and law degrees from Syracuse University, began his career as a law clerk to a U.S. District Court Judge, and is a member of the Bar of the District of Columbia, where he lives with his wife and two daughters.