About

I like to call myself a good government catalyst. I describe my current work as The BETTER Project – Bringing Everyone Together To Enhance Results. I work with governments and other organizations to help them understand how to use and communicate goals, data, analyses, and research to improve real-world outcomes and other dimensions of performance. I try to build understanding of how to use and communicate data and other evidence to support policy makers and those working on the front line to make decisions about where to focus and to find ways to improve. Simultaneously, I try to build understanding of how not to discourage front line workers nor give them reasons to be afraid of data.

I work on a portfolio of projects. These include advising the Data Design Initiative of the National Head Start Association as well as an effort to transform correctional oversight. I currently co-chair the Standing Panel on Intergovernmental Systems of the National Academy of Public Administration. I also teach and write about public sector performance and evidence-informed management.

During the Obama Administration, I served as Associate Director for Performance and Personnel Management at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, heading the Administration’s work with Congress to craft the language of the Government Performance and Results Act Modernization Act of 2010 and federal efforts to implement federal performance law.  After that, I served as founding president of The Volcker Alliance, an organization launched to increase attention to and excellence in government policy implementation, not just its formulation.  Before OMB, I served as Associate Administrator for Regional Operations and State/Local Relations at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Undersecretary of Environmental Affairs and Capital Budget Director in Massachusetts; founding director of UMass Boston’s Collins Center for Public Management; and director of the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Session on Public Sector Performance Management.

My hope with this website is to share knowledge and know-how that contributes to bringing everyone together to enhance results for a better world.