Thomas L. Mesenbourg
Acting Deputy Director
Thomas L. Mesenbourg is serving as the acting Deputy Director of the U.S. Census Bureau. He had been the Associate Director for Economic Programs since August 2005.
The deputy director is the Census Bureau’s chief operating officer, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the government’s preeminent statistical agency. The bureau has about 12,000 employees — nearly 5,000 at Suitland, Md., headquarters and the rest based at regional offices and telephone centers across the country.
Mesenbourg had been responsible for the Economic Directorate’s myriad programs, including the economic census and the census of governments, and more than 100 monthly, quarterly and annual surveys. He served as the adviser to the Census Bureau director and deputy director on economic statistics programs and provided counsel as to the scope, quality, content and methodology of economic statistics programs.
Mesenbourg has worked at the Census Bureau since 1972. He became chief of the Economic Census Staff in 1986 and was responsible for the planning and processing of the 1987 Census of Agriculture and 1987 Economic Census.
He became chief of the Economic Census and Surveys Division in October 1991, directing the planning and processing of the 1992 Census of Agriculture and 1992 Economic Census. During his time as division chief, he was chairman of the Statistics 2000 Task Force, a multiagency group that identified opportunities for reducing business reporting burdens, cutting costs and improving efficiency. He also planned and organized the 1991 International Conference on Classification that led to the development of the North American Industry Classification System.
He served as the Assistant Associate Director for Economic Programs from 1994 to 2005, managing eight divisions, 1,300 employees and an annual budget of more than $230 million. In 2004, he was the recipient of a Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Senior Executives, the government’s highest award for career executives.
Mesenbourg earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Boston University in 1968 and his master’s from Penn State in 1971. He lives in La Plata, Md., with his wife, Faith. They have two daughters and one grandchild.
