Dennis Alvord serves as EDA’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Development and Chief Operating Officer and is responsible for enterprise-wide operations and program execution. Mr. Alvord performed the duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development from April 2017 through March 2019 and, again, from January through August 2021.

Active in the Department, he was elected as Co-Chair of the Department Management Council, comprised of senior executives from all of Commerce’s principal operating units. Previously, as Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary, he worked on a broad portfolio of department-wide management, operations, program and policy issues and co-chaired the Department of Commerce's 2016-17 Presidential Transition, coordinating efforts across the Department and with the White House and President Elect's Transition Team.

Preceding his Senior Advisor role, he led start-ups as Executive Director of BusinessUSA, a government-wide, multiagency customer service initiative that promoted and improved access to business assistance resources, and as Executive Director of the Department of Commerce’s CommerceConnect initiative, which simplified access to the Department’s business solutions.

Before joining the federal government, Mr. Alvord worked as a manager in the infrastructure finance group of an environmental and transportation consulting practice. Mr. Alvord holds a Master of Public Administration from George Washington University, and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the State University of New York College at Cortland. He is a recipient of the 2015 President’s Award for Customer Service.