Bilal Baydoun

Director of Democratic Institutions

As director of democratic institutions, Bilal Baydoun oversees research on improving democratic governance, strengthening democratic institutions, and curbing the corrosive influence of private power on democracy.

Prior to Roosevelt, Bilal was the director of policy and research at the Groundwork Collaborative, where he oversaw research and policy engagement on inflation, corporate power, tax policy, and economic inequality. He has served as a senior advisor and strategist in several government organizations, including the State of Michigan, the State of Illinois, and the City of Dearborn. As an editor at The Appeal, he published long-form analyses by leading scholars on the criminal legal system and economic inequality as well as public opinion polling on a wide range of policy issues. Bilal’s work has been featured in The Nation, The American Prospect, and The Guardian, and he has testified before the US Senate Committee on Banking. Bilal holds a BA from the University of Michigan and an MPP from the Ford School of Public Policy, where he served as the inaugural Gerald R. Ford Presidential Fellow.