Brent Orrell is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he works on job training, workforce development, and criminal justice reform. Specifically, his research focuses on expanding opportunity for all Americans through improved work readiness and job training and improving the performance of the criminal justice system through rehabilitation and prisoner reentry programs.

Before joining AEI, Mr. Orrell worked in the executive and legislative branches of the US government for over 20 years. He was nominated by President George W. Bush to lead the Employment and Training Administration of the US Department of Labor, and he served as deputy assistant secretary for policy at the Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Mr. Orrell is the editor of “Rethinking Reentry” (AEI, January 2020), in which he authored the chapter “Identity and Agency: A New Approach to Rehabilitation and Reentry.” He is also the host of the podcast “Hardly Working.” A frequent contributor to the popular press, Mr. Orrell has been published in Law & Liberty, RealClearPolicy, RealClearMarkets, and The Hill.

He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon.