Jon Cardinal

Background

About Jon Cardinal

In over a decade of experience on Capitol Hill working on economic development, Jon has expertise in federal policy to revitalize distressed communities, including issue areas focused on innovation, entrepreneurship, manufacturing, job training, worker empowerment, rural development, telecom, and trade. He has successfully led the passage of several bills into law. This includes legislation that created new federal rural economic development, entrepreneurship, and broadband deployment programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and that reformed the U.S. Small Business Administration’s programs to support employee-owned businesses like cooperatives. His successful legislative efforts have also updated federal career and technical education programs to focus on high-tech skills and launched a new U.S. Department of Defense manufacturing communities program. Jon is currently Director of Economic Development for United States Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer. He advises Leader Schumer on various economic and community development policy areas, manages the Senator’s relationships with CEOs and the broader private sector, and leads an outreach operation that implements the Senator’s economic development goals. Jon previously served in a similar role for more than a decade with U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and prior to joining Senator Gillibrand’s office, Jon was an aide on the staff of former U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. He has also been active in presidential politics, advising on economic policy for Senator Gillibrand’s 2020 presidential campaign, and leading the rural policy working group for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. Jon was selected as a 115th Congress Stennis Center Senior Fellow in recognition of his leadership on Capitol Hill. His work in the field of economic and workforce development was honored with the 2015 Statewide Leadership Award by the New York Association of Training and Employment Professionals. He graduated from St. Lawrence University in 2008 Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa with an honors degree in Government. He shared the honor of being the first recipient from St. Lawrence of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship, a highly competitive national award recognizing future leaders in public service. From 2013 to 2017, Jon served a term on the St. Lawrence University Board of Trustees. He currently is an adjunct professor for City College of New York’s Colin Powell School’s Washington, DC semester, teaching a class on social policy, inequality, and Congress.