Director Name
William B. Shear
Areas of Expertise:
- Regional and local economic development
- Small business
William B. Shear is a Director in GAO’s Financial Markets and Community Investment team. He leads GAO work on community and economic development, small business, and Native American housing issues. As part of his portfolio, he oversees evaluations of the Small Business Administration’s contracting, disaster assistance, credit, and counseling programs.
Bill joined GAO more than 20 years ago. In addition to his work on community and economic development issues, Bill has led evaluations of the U.S. housing finance system.
Bill has a Master’s degree in Public Policy and a Ph.D. in economics, both from the University of Chicago. He also served as an adjunct faculty member in the graduate program in City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania.
