Milan Bhatt

Deputy Director, Economic Inclusion, Clinton Global Initiative

Milan currently serves as Deputy Director, Economic Inclusion at the Clinton Global Initiative, where he oversees a portfolio that includes the realms of workforce, labor, immigration, and financial inclusion.

Milan began his career nearly two decades ago with the New York Immigration Coalition, where he led the organization’s advocacy on immigrant labor issues and advanced administrative and legislative campaigns focusing on advancing fairness and opportunity for immigrant populations.

He went on to serve as Executive Director of the Workers’ Rights Law Center and spearheaded a merger to create a leading statewide human rights organization, the Worker Justice Center of New York. As Co-Executive Director, Milan led the organization’s docket of high-impact state and federal litigation, provision of direct services, and advocacy efforts, including those to increase the state minimum wage, combat human trafficking, and level the playing field for farmworkers and other rural populations.

In 2016, Milan was appointed to the executive team at the New York State Department of Labor. As Deputy Commissioner for Worker Protection, Milan led several major divisions and implementation of key laws and initiatives, including NYS Paid Sick Leave, gender equity measures, the Governor’s Joint Task Force to Combat Employee Misclassification, New York’s COVID Workplace Task Force, and the $2B Excluded Workers Fund program that provided direct financial support for 130,000 individuals otherwise ineligible for pandemic relief.

Milan earned his B.A. in Psychology from Columbia University and J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law.