Rajesh D. Nayak is a fellow at the Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School and a consultant on labor policy and organizational transitions. Most recently, Nayak served as the assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Labor, overseeing the department’s regulatory agenda, forward-looking policy development, and evaluation offices. He previously served in a range of senior roles at the Labor Department during the Obama-Biden administration, including as the Secretary of Labor’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, and Senior Counsel to the Solicitor.

Outside of government, Nayak has worked in nonprofit organizations both as an attorney and a senior leader. He was the deputy executive director of the National Employment Law Project, where he helped to lead the organization’s restructuring and managed its senior leadership. He previously worked as an attorney at NELP, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, and the Shriver Center in Chicago.

Nayak earned an undergraduate degree in public policy from the University of Chicago and a law degree from Yale.