Burton Reist is the Census Bureau’s Assistant Director for Communications, Operations and Management. His management responsibilities include overseeing the budget, and increasing the volume of the day-to-day interactions with the media and public through press releases and blogs. Burton is involved in day-to-day activities with oversight entities such as the Office of Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office. His duties also include providing oversight for the Public Information Office, the National Partnership Program and the Program Management Office. In all of these areas, he provides executive leadership for ensuring ongoing strategic communications for the 2020 Census Program.

Before rejoining the Census Bureau, Burton served as the director of External Affairs for the Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) at the U.S. Department of Commerce and reported directly to ESA's chief of staff. Mr. Reist managed all aspects of external affairs including public and interagency communications, and the coordination and oversight of outreach by the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Census Bureau. He also directed communications regarding ESA's mission, which included engaging a huge and diverse stakeholder community, and he was the designated federal official for the Commerce Department's Data Advisory Council.

Mr. Reist is a senior leader and manager with decades of experience in the statistical and communications realm. He directed the 2010 Census communications campaign, and he has held several senior positions since his arrival at the Census Bureau in 1998. Before joining ESA, he was the Census Bureau's chief of the 2020 Census Research and Planning Office, where he directed the research and testing program for the 2020 Census.

Mr. Reist, who lives on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., has a bachelor's degree in politics from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and a master's degree in public administration from Cornell University.