Daniel Hornung, Class of 2008, went on to become a lawyer, deputy assistant to the president, deputy director of the National Economic Council, and is currently employed at the Urban Institute. His experience at Lab and growing up in Hyde Park fostered a deep interest in public service, inspiring him to question and improve the economy.
Looking back on your time at U-High, what experience or moment had the greatest impact on shaping who you are today?
“The experience of growing up and going to school in Hyde Park, which has, on the one hand, the huge reach of a university where you’re grappling with important and interesting ideas, and then on the other hand, is in a community that is racially diverse and economically diverse. I think that combination opened up for me a whole set of questions about why we have the economic inequality that we have in our country. The everyday experiences of seeing the big disparities that exist on the South Side of Chicago and having the tools and exposure to big global issues at the University of Chicago shaped a lot of my interest in public service.”
What achievement in your career are you most proud of, and why does it stand out to you?
“I was part of a small team that worked to come up with and pass the American Rescue Plan, which was the pandemic legislation early in the Biden administration. I am very proud of the role that I played in that and the impact that it had on so many people. As a result of that legislation, child poverty that year dropped almost in half, and it is just a reminder of the power of government to impact people’s lives in a positive way.”
What is one goal or aspiration you still hope to accomplish?
“I want to continue to try to address the barriers in our society that prevent some people from having the economic opportunities that people like us who went to Lab were so lucky to have. I just hope to continue to be engaged in these issues, and over time, collectively help our society be better at solving those problems.”
When you were at U-High, what career path did you envision for yourself, and what inspired that choice? How does your current career compare to what you once imagined, and what led to any changes in direction?
“From a pretty young age, including in high school, I thought that I wanted to be involved in public service and economic issues. Barack Obama started to run for president when I was a junior in high school, and it was right there in Chicago, so I started volunteering on the Obama campaign. A bunch of things changed. I became a lawyer, and I’m not sure if I knew I was going to be a lawyer. Housing policy was one that I kind of knew I was interested in because it is so integral to how people think about communities and was so relevant on the South Side of Chicago.”
What key experiences or influences guided you toward your current career path?
“Starting at Lab, I took an economics class, and I spent most of my academic time in college on economic issues and economic history. I just loved the big questions about how do you structure society. How do businesses engage with their customers? What is the government’s role in trying to improve outcomes for people?”
Throughout your career, what event or experience has most challenged or reshaped your understanding of the country?
“I’ve sat in the White House on the day that Donald Trump was elected, both times — both when I was working in the Obama White House and working in the Biden White House — and certainly the first time that he won, and this time too, challenged many of my assumptions about what economic policy our politics speak to people or don’t speak to people. One of the important things that I hope can happen in the next year or two is that we are able to think about how we change our policies and our politics to be more responsive to real pain in the country.”
