Mill Valley’s Man in the White House

He hasn’t lived in Mill Valley for a long stretch since 1998.

But although those past 14 years have taken James Dyett to New Hampshire, Harvard, Africa, the White House and many stops in between, the 29-year-old still has plenty of love for his hometown.

Dyett, the son of local heavyweights Michael Dyett and Heidi Richardson, is in the midst of a summer internship at the White House, where he’s working with the National Economic Council.

He’s had quite a journey to his short stint at the White House. After four years at St. Paul’s School, a boarding high school in New Hampshire, Dyett went to Harvard College, majoring in Social Studies and graduating in 2006. He then spent five years at a northern Virginia-based non-profit called Global Environment & Technology Foundation (GETF), working on water and sanitation issues in Africa. He’s now back at Harvard pursuing a joint-Masters in Public Policy/MBA at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Business School.

We chatted with Dyett via email about the path that led him to the White House, his future plans and his love about Mill Valley. 

Mill Valley Patch: What drew you to taking an internship at the White House?
James Dyett: Several years ago, when I was doing a lot of work in Africa, the financial crisis hit. While I loved the work I was doing abroad, I felt called by the crisis to re-focus my energy on problems we are facing here in the U.S. My sense was then, and remains now, that this is a unique and critical time in our country’s history. We are going to need really good policy to come out of this recession stronger and help people that are still looking for work every day.
Spending this summer at the White House felt like a great opportunity to contribute to the important work happening on economic issues. It’s also a chance to see the policy-making process up close in the case I have the chance to serve in government in the future.

MVP: What’s your specific role this summer?
JD: I am an intern with the National Economic Council (NEC), which coordinates economic policy-making for the President. My job is to support the staff with background research and any other analysis that they need.

MVP: Has President Obama come to say hello to the new group of interns yet?
JD: We haven’t met the President yet, but I have had the chance to meet a number of White House staff members at a variety of levels. I came into the internship knowing that this is an intense environment, but even with those expectations, I’ve been blown away by the dedication and commitment of the people who work in this administration! It’s inspiring to see and motivates me to work even harder on the things that I care about.

MVP: What do you hope to pursue as a profession?
JD: Right now I hope to either work on growing small businesses that have the potential to make a positive social or environmental impact or continue with economic policy. If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll have a chance to do both in my career.

MVP: What do you miss most about Mill Valley?
JD: Hiking the Dipsea trail and . Also, on my last trip home, I was really moved to see that fifteen years later, Mill Valley kids are still playing stick ball at during the Little League games. The feeling of community at Boyle Park is something that’s really special about Mill Valley.

MVP: What do you miss least?
JD: Probably running the . That’s painful!