Alexander Hertel-Fernandez is deputy assistant secretary for research and evaluation at the U.S Department of Labor. He is on leave from his prior position as associate professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, where he studies American political economy, with a focus on the politics of business, labor, wealthy donors, and policy. His most recent book, State Capture: How Conservative Activists, Big Businesses, and Wealthy Donors Reshaped the American States—and the Nation (Oxford University Press, 2019), examines how networks of conservative activists, donors, and businesses built organizations to successfully reshape public policy across the states and why progressives failed in similar efforts. His previous book, Politics at Work: How Companies Turn Their Workers into Lobbyists (Oxford University Press, 2018), examines how employers are increasingly recruiting their workers into politics to change elections and policy. Hertel-Fernandez received his B.A. in political science from Northwestern University and his A.M. and Ph.D. in government and social policy from Harvard University.