Understanding our nation's progress toward widely accepted goals is imperative in an age where most of us know far too little about the problems and opportunities we face.
Derek Bok, The 300th Anniversary University Professor and President Emeritus of Harvard University
National Advisory Group
The State of the USA's (SUSA) growing National Advisory Group is composed of leaders that are involved on a regular basis in advising SUSA leadership on strategic, organizational, policy and programmatic issues. Its members have demonstrated expertise, knowledge, relationships and accomplishments in a variety of fields that relate to the mission of SUSA. The members include:
Ron Blackwell, Chief Economist, AFL-CIO
Derek Bok, The 300th Anniversary Professor and President Emeritus, Harvard University
Donald Borut, Executive Director, National League of Cities
William Clark, Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Michael Delli Carpini, Dean, The Annenberg School, University of Pennsylvania
William Dennis, Senior Research Fellow, National Federation of Independent Research Foundations
Harvey Fineberg, President of the Institute of Medicine, The National Academies
Robert Groves, Director of the Survey Research Center, University of Michigan
Joel Gurin, Former Executive Vice President, Consumers Union
Charlotte Kahn, Director of the Boston Indicators Project, Boston Foundation
Gail Leftwich Kitch, Executive Director, By the People, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions
Marvin Langston, Principal, Langston Associates, LLC
Nicole Lurie, Senior Natural Scientist and Co-Director for Public Health at the Center for Domestic and International Health Security; Director of the RAND Center for Population Health and Health Disparities; Paul O'Neill Alcoa Professor of Policy Analysis at RAND
Patricia McGinnis, President and CEO, The Council for Excellence in Government
Sara Melendez, Retired Professor, George Washington University
Robin O’Malley, Senior Fellow and Program Director, H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics & Environment
Jane Ross, Director, Center for Economic, Governance, and International Studies, The National Academies
Government Observers for the National Advisory Group
Theodore Heintz, White House Office Council on Environmental Quality
Katherine Wallman, Chief Statistician, U.S. Office of Management and Budget
Ron Blackwell
Ron Blackwell is chief economist of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Unions (AFL-CIO) where he coordinates the economic agenda of the federation and represents the AFL-CIO on corporate and economic issues affecting American workers and union strategies. From 1996 to 2004, Ron was the director of the AFL-CIO Corporate Affairs Department. Before coming to the AFL-CIO, Ron was assistant to the president of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) and chief economist of UNITE. Before joining the labor movement, Ron was an academic dean in the Seminar College of the New School for Social Research in New York, where he taught economics, politics and philosophy. Ron represents the American labor movement on the Economic Policy Working Group of the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD, and participated in formulation of the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance and the recent review of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. Ron serves on the board of directors of the Industrial Relations Research Association; the research advisory council of the Economic Policy Institute; the Board on Manufacturing and Engineering Design of The National Academies; the advisory boards of the Jackson Hole Center for Global Affairs and the International Center for Corporate Governance and Accountability at the George Washington University Law School; and the editorial boards of Perspectives on Work and the New Labor Forum. Ron recently received the Nat Weinberg Award from the Walter P. Reuther Library for service to the labor movement and social justice. Ron is author of “Corporate Accountability or Business as Usual,” New Labor Forum (Summer 2003) and “Globalization and the American Labor Movement” in the book edited by Steve Fraser and Joshua Freeman, Audacious Democracy: Labor, Intellectuals and the Social econstruction of America. He is also co-editor of Worldly Philosophy: Essays in Political and Historical Economics, a Festschrift for Robert Heilbroner.
Derek Bok
Derek Bok is the 300th anniversary university professor, university president emeritus, and faculty chair of the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations. He has been a lawyer and professor of law, dean of the Law School, and president of Harvard University. On July 1, 2006, he became interim president of Harvard pending the choice of a new permanent president. He has written six books on higher education: Beyond the Ivory Tower, Higher Learning, Universities and the Future of America, The Shape of the River, Universities in the Marketplace, and Our Underachieving Colleges. He serves as chair of the board of the Spencer Foundation and was formerly chair of Common Cause. His current research interests include the state of higher education and a project sponsored by several foundations on the adequacy of the U.S. government in coping with the nation's domestic problems. His two books on this subject are The State of the Nation and The Trouble with Government.
Donald J. Borut
Donald J. Borut, executive director of the National League of Cities, manages the nation’s oldest and largest national organization representing municipal governments. As administrative leader of NLC, Borut reports to the League’s officers and board of directors who are drawn from NLC’s 1,600 member cities and state municipal organizations. Borut has more than 35 years’ experience in municipal government and organizational leadership in the public interest sector. Prior to his NLC appointment in 1990, he was deputy executive director of the International City Management Association (ICMA), the nation’s preeminent organization representing professional administrators in local governments. A graduate of Oberlin College, with a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Michigan, Borut began working in city government in 1964 as a staff assistant in the office of the city administrator in Ann Arbor, MI. He advanced to the post of assistant city administrator of Ann Arbor before leaving the city to join the ICMA staff in 1971. His work at ICMA included the development and enhancement of many support programs, information services and publications, as well as the creation of an ICMA Endowment Fund. He also was a founder and director of the Program on Community Problem Solving, which provides technical assistance on collaboration and consensus-building in solving various community problems. Borut has served on numerous advisory boards, editorial boards, and other committees in the public interest sector, including the Board of Public Technology, Inc., the States and Local Legal Center, and the steering committee of the Key National Indicators Initiative. He chaired the screening committee of the All-America City Awards program conducted annually by the National Civic League. In 1992, he was elected to the National Academy of Public Administration. He currently holds the post of secretary general of the North American Section of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), a global organization dedicated to strengthen the capacity and performance of local governments around the world. Borut, who makes his home in Washington, D.C., was born and grew up in New York City. He is married, with two children. He is a member of the board and past president of the Levine School of Music, a community school and music center in Washington.
William Clark
William Clark is the Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development. Trained as an ecologist, his research focuses on the interactions of environment, development and security concerns in international affairs, with a special emphasis on the role of science and technology in shaping those interactions. At Harvard, Clark is a member of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, which he directed from 1993 to 1995, is on the executive committees of the Center for International Development and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and is on the board of tutors for the college’s concentration in Environmental Science and Public Policy. He directs the Sustainable Development Program at the Center for International Development. Professor Clark is a recipient of the MacArthur Prize, the Manuel Carballo Award as the Kennedy School’s outstanding teacher (2001), and the Humboldt Prize. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He received his bachelor's degree from Yale University, where he graduated magna cum laude with honors of exceptional distinction in biology. His PhD in ecology was granted by Canada's University of British Columbia.
Michael X. Delli Carpini
Michael X. Delli Carpini, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, received his BA and MA from the University of Pennsylvania (1975) and his PhD from the University of Minnesota (1980). Prior to joining the University of Pennsylvania faculty in July of 2003, Professor Delli Carpini was director of the Public Policy program of the Pew Charitable Trusts (1999-2003), and member of the Political Science Department at Barnard College and graduate faculty of Columbia University (1987-2002), serving as chair of the Barnard department from 1995 to 1999. Delli Carpini began his academic career as an assistant professor in the Political Science Department at Rutgers University (1980-1987). His research explores the role of the citizen in American politics, with particular emphasis on the impact of the mass media on public opinion, political knowledge and political participation. He is author of Stability and Change in American Politics: The Coming of Age of the Generation of the 1960s (New York University Press, 1986) and What Americans Know About Politics and Why It Matters (Yale University Press, 1996), as well as numerous articles, essays and edited volumes on political communications, public opinion and political socialization.
William J. (Denny) Dennis, Jr.
William J. (Denny) Dennis, Jr. is currently a senior eesearch fellow at the NFIB Research Foundation in Washington, D.C., and directs its activities. He has been employed since 1976 in various research capacities by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation's largest small business trade association. Among other activities, Dennis is, has been, or received: founder and editor of the National Small Business Poll, 2001– ; Wilford White Fellow - International Council for Small Business, 2000– ; U.S. Small Business Administration Special Advocacy Award for Research, 1998; International Reference Group, Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research, 1997– ; president, International Council for Small Business, 1996-1997; team leader - Entrepreneurship Research Consortium, 1996-2002; fellow - United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 1989; co-author, Small Business Economic Trends, 1986-2000; Business Research Advisory Committee of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 1982– ; and, member of two panels for the National Academies of Science (High Schools and the Changing Workplace, and the Mathematical Sciences Education Board). His principal research interest lies in smaller firms and public policy.
Harvey V. Fineberg
Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine. He served as provost of Harvard University from 1997 to 2001, following thirteen years as dean of the Harvard School of Public Health. He has devoted most of his academic career to the fields of health policy and medical decision making. Dr. Fineberg helped found and served as president of the Society for Medical Decision Making and also served as adviser and consultant to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. At the Institute of Medicine, he has chaired and served on a number of panels dealing with health policy issues, ranging from AIDS to vaccine safety. He is the author, co-author, and co-editor of numerous books and articles on such diverse topics as AIDS prevention, tuberculosis control, assessment of new medical technology, clinical and public health decision making, and understanding risk in society.
Robert M. Groves
Robert M. Groves is director of the University of Michigan Survey Research Center, professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan, research professor at its Institute for Social Research, and research professor at the Joint Program in Survey Methodology, at the University of Maryland. From 1990 to 1992 he was an associate director of the U.S. Census Bureau, on loan from Michigan. From 1992 to 2001 he was the associate director, then director of the Joint Program in Survey Methodology, a consortium of the University of Maryland, University of Michigan, and Westat, sponsored by the Federal statistical system. He is the author (with F. Fowler, M. Couper, J. Lepkowski, E. Singer, R. Tourangeau) of Survey Methodology (Wiley, 2004); chief editor of Survey Nonresponse (Wiley, 2002); author (with M. Couper) of Nonresponse in Household Interview Surveys (Wiley, 1998); author of Survey Errors and Survey Costs (Wiley, 1989) (named as one of the most influential books in survey research in the last 50 years by AAPOR); a co‑editor of Measurement Errors in Surveys (Wiley, 1991); chief editor of Telephone Survey Methodology (Wiley, 1988); the author (with R. Kahn) of Surveys By Telephone (Academic Press, 1979); and an author of many journal articles in survey methodology. He has investigated the impact of alternative telephone sample designs on precision, the effect of data collection mode on the quality of survey reports, causes and remedies for nonresponse errors in surveys, estimation and explanation of interviewer variance in survey responses, and other topics in survey methods. His current research interests focus on theory-building in survey participation and models of nonresponse reduction and adjustment. He is a member of the National Research Council’s Committee on National Statistics; the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Board of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Census Bureau; the advisory committee of the National Science Foundation Division of social, behavioral, and economic sciences; the expert advisory committee for the National Survey of Drug Use and Health; the board of directors of the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs; the executive council of the American Association for Public Opinion Research; and the steering committee of the Key National Indicators Initiative of the National Academies. Groves has an AB degree from Dartmouth College and a PhD from the University of Michigan. He is a fellow of the American Statistical Association, an elected member of the International Statistical Institute, former president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, former chair of the Survey Research Methods Section of the American Statistical Association, and a winner of the 2000 AAPOR Innovator Award. In 2001 Groves was awarded the distinguished achievement award, the AAPOR award, by the association.
Joel Gurin
Joel Gurin is an experienced leader in the nonprofit sector and in publishing. He combines a strong background in nonprofit leadership, deep experience in print and Web publications, and a special focus on health, medicine, and the environment.
Mr. Gurin was Executive Vice President of Consumers Union, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, for almost a decade. He led the core operations of this large, complex, and highly respected publishing and advocacy organization with a staff of 500 and annual budget of $200 million. Before becoming Executive VP, he was Science Editor and then Editorial Director for Consumer Reports and related publications.
During his career at CU, Mr. Gurin directed all information development, research, and publishing, all revenue-producing activities, strategic planning, fundraising, communications, administration and human resources, budgeting, and labor negotiations. He worked with CU's public policy experts to develop new programs combining information delivery, advocacy, and consumer activism.
Under his leadership, CU had the best financial performance in its history. He delivered a surplus of more than $20 million in his last year as EVP and quadrupled reserves to more than $80 million in less than four years. He also doubled fundraising revenue to reach $18 million annually from half a million active donors.
Mr. Gurin has extensive experience in consumer-focused communications and publishing. He transformed Consumer Reports magazine through a major redesign and repositioning, and launched and grew Consumer Reports' Web site, which now has 3 million active paid subscribers. He has developed both paid-subscription publications and foundation-funded public-interest programs, including Web sites on environmental issues and reducing prescription drug costs. He also reorganized the research, editorial, and publishing departments to support cross-media product development.
Before coming to CU, Mr. Gurin was an award-winning science and medical journalist. He was co-founder and Editor of American Health, the first health magazine to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence. He has written and edited four books on health and medicine, covering medical research, nutrition, dieting, and the mind/body connection.
Most recently, Mr. Gurin was Senior Vice President, Rodale Interactive, where he developed online growth strategy for the country's largest health and wellness publisher.
Mr. Gurin received his B.A. in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa. He lives in Scarsdale, New York with his wife Carol, a clinical psychologist, and their family.
Charlotte Kahn
Charlotte Kahn co-founded and is the director of the Boston Indicators Project at the Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation. A partnership with the City of Boston and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the Boston Indicators Project tracks change across a comprehensive framework of ten sectors through an award-winning website. The Project also publishes a biennial summary of global, national, and regional trends affecting Boston and its metropolitan region based on sector convenings and research. The Project also issues a “report card” tracking progress on a shared civic agenda. Prior to her work on indicators at the Boston Foundation, Ms. Kahn directed the Boston Persistent Poverty Project, part of a six-city Rockefeller Foundation initiative. Earlier, she served as the executive director of an NGO dedicated to improving the quality of urban life, particularly in low-income neighborhoods, through open space planning and design and youth development and job training programs. Ms. Kahn attended Cornell University, holds a master's degree from Antioch University, and was awarded a Loeb Fellowship in Advanced Environmental Studies from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She is a founding member of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., and of the Community Indicators Consortium, a global community of practice for people and organizations interested in advancing the art and science of community indicators.
Suellen Terrill Keiner
Suellen Terrill Keiner, JD, has had a long career as an environmental and civil rights attorney. Before joining SUSA, she was the interim executive director of the Natural Resources Council of America. From 2000 to 2005, she was vice president for academy programs at the National Academy of Public Administration where she managed the Academy's Center for the Economy and the Environment. In that position, her research and studies on performance management issues arising in economic and environmental programs included:
- Improving state and EPA information systems on compliance and enforcement
- Integrating environmental justice into EPA and state agency operations
- Evaluating state resources for managing water quality programs
- Reforming the New Source Review program of the Clean Air Act and
- Effective third-party auditing for ISO 14001 environmental management systems.
Prior to working at the Academy, Ms. Keiner was director of the Program on Environmental Governance and Management at the Environmental Law Institute where she managed research projects on improving compliance with environmental laws and addressing environmental justice issues. She also frequently taught training programs on how to improve enforcement and implementation of environmental and natural resource laws for the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and for many state environmental agencies and citizen groups.
During her 35 years as a lawyer, Ms. Keiner has worked as assistant solicitor and deputy assistant secretary for Energy and Minerals at the U.S. Department of Interior, a Natural Resources Consultant for the Council of State Planning Agencies, and a litigator for environmental and civil rights groups. She also served as a judge's law clerk and worked as a translator for the Central Intelligence Agency.
Her formal education includes undergraduate work (BA cum laude) in political science and French at Bryn Mawr College, studies at the Institut des Etudes Politiques in France, and a law degree (JD) from Georgetown University Law Center. She currently serves on the Accreditation Council for the American National Accreditation Board and is a member of the boards of directors for the Institute of Conservation Leadership, the Friends of Israel’s Environment and the St. Mary’s River Watershed Association.
Gail Leftwich Kitch
Gail Leftwich Kitch is Executive Director of By the People, an initiative of MacNeil/Lehrer Productions (M/LP) which uses public television to encourage and support informed non-contentious citizen dialogue around policy issues. Prior to joining MLP Mrs. Kitch served as President of the Federation of State Humanities Councils, the national membership organization of the state affiliates of the National Endowment for the Humanities, following service as Director of Cambridge Forum, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and principal in Strategic Business Consultants (SBC), an international business consulting organization. During the 1990s, Mrs. Kitch was also a frequent political commentator on state and national politics on Boston-area television and radio. A lawyer by training, Mrs. Kitch practiced for a number of years with large firms in Washington, DC and Boston, MA following graduation from University of Chicago Law School. She is a former chair of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, and was a Radcliffe College Public Policy Fellow during 1997-1999. Among other activities, Mrs. Kitch currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Boards of the Women’s Foreign Policy Group, and of Wells College in Aurora, NY, and is a member of the Board of the ABA Museum of Law.
Marvin (Marv) J. Langston
Marvin (Marv) Langston, principal, Langston Associates, combines 34 years of public service and five years of private sector service with degrees in engineering and public administration, Marv brings a broad background to his consulting clients. Marv couples leadership, technical, and management skills with real world experience so that clients can learn how to successfully compete in today’s dynamic e-change environment. In private industry, Marv served as the COO of a small high-tech start-up, led large corporation IT transformation, initiated account management practices to unify customer trust relationships, and helped rebuild troubled system development programs. In government Marv served as the Navy’s first CIO, and, as the DoD CIO, successfully led the Defense Department through the Y2K transformation. In these positions, he spearheaded the measured reform necessary to enhance both mission and business processes and earned the Government Computer Week magazine Executive of the Year award in 1999. At the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency he led future IT technology programs. Marv’s technical background began as a Navy technician where he maintained nuclear power, communication, radar, and data systems. Later as a Naval Engineering Officer he led design and development programs for missile, display, computer, communication, and network systems.
Nicole Lurie
Before coming to RAND, Dr. Lurie was Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Minnesota, and most recently, Medical Advisor to the Commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Health. From 1998-2001, she served as Assistant Secretary of Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
As Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health at HHS, Dr. Lurie had line responsibility for the Office of Emergency Preparedness, which included development of emergency response plans at state and local levels, including plans for events involving multiple jurisdictions and development of the pandemic influenza plan. She was involved with flu surveillance and response at a time when hospitals in multiple jurisdictions across the country were full, with multiple preparedness and response exercises, and with other efforts to directly link public health and health delivery sectors.
Dr. Lurie serves as Senior Editor for Health Services Research and has served on editorial boards and as a reviewer for numerous journals. She was President of the Society of General Internal Medicine, is currently on the board of directors for the Academy of Health Services Research, and has served on multiple national committees. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the AHSR Young Investigator Award, the Nellie Westerman Prize for Research in Ethics, the Heroine in Health Care Award, and is a member of the Institute of Medicine.
Patricia McGinnis
Patricia McGinnis is president and CEO of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Council for Excellence in Government. The Council’s mission is to improve the performance of government at all levels and to increase citizen confidence and participation in governance. Among major Council initiatives are its leadership programs for Presidential Appointees and White House Staff, organized at the request of the Bush and Clinton administrations. The Council’s Center for Democracy and Citizenship organizes bipartisan retreats for legislators in the U.S. Congress and also at the state level. Other leadership initiatives target senior career managers in federal and state governments. The Council’s Technology Leadership Consortium, which convenes leaders in business, government, and the research communities, has produced a blueprint for harnessing information and communications technology in the public interest. Before coming to the Council, McGinnis was a co-founder and principal of the FMR Group, a public affairs consulting firm in Washington, D.C., where she concentrated on education, energy, and communications policy. In government, she served in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, where she led the effort to create the Department of Education. She also held posts at the Senate Budget Committee, and the departments of Commerce and Health and Human Services. McGinnis serves on numerous committee and boards, including the Dean’s Alumni Leadership Council of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the Board of Visitors at the University of Maryland School of Public Affairs. She is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, a member of George Washington University’s Homeland Security Policy Institute Steering Committee, and is currently a director of the Brown Shoe Company in St. Louis, Missouri, and Logistics Management Institute in McLean, VA. She holds a BA in political science from Mary Washington College of the University of Virginia and a MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Sara Melendez
Sara Melendez is a retired professor (George Washington University). She joined the Ms. Foundation Board of Directors in 2003 and her first term was fulfilled in 2006. She serves on the Board Governance and Campaign Executive (Endowment) committees and has been a member of the Presidential Review and Board Development committees. Dr. Melendez is adjunct professor of nonprofit management in the School of Public Policy and Public Administration of George Washington University in Washington, D.C. From 2003 to 2006, she was research professor of nonprofit management at the university. From 1994 to 2002, Dr. Melendez was CEO of Independent Sector, a coalition of more than 700 foundations, corporations and nonprofit organizations working to promote, strengthen and improve volunteering and citizen action for the public good. During her tenure, Dr. Melendez worked to increase accountability and ethical practices in the nonprofit sector, and to increase the visibility of the sector and their contributions to society. Before Independent Sector, she worked for more than 20 years in education, as an elementary school teacher in Brooklyn, NY; professor of education in undergraduate and graduate programs, dean and vice provost, in Connecticut; and as associate director for the (then) Office of Minority Concerns of the American Council on Education and CEO of the Center for Applied Linguistics. She is an advocate for the continuing need for programs to enable women and people of color to achieve their full education potential, and she is passionate about teaching philanthropy and citizen action throughout the curriculum at all levels in the education system. Dr. Melendez has traveled to numerous developing countries in Eastern Europe and Central America to conduct training and consultation with NGO leaders on nonprofit management. She has served as trustee of the Educational Testing Service and the American International University in London, and as a member of the board of directors of CIVICUS - World Alliance for Citizen Participation and the Ethics Resource Center. Currently, she serves on the boards of the Ms. Foundation for Women, National Puerto Rican Forum and Aspira Association, and is chair of the board of directors of Multicultural Education Training and Advocacy (META). A native of Puerto Rico, Dr. Melendez grew up in Brooklyn. She holds a bachelor's degree in English from Brooklyn College, master's degree in education from Long Island University, and doctorate in education from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.
Robin O’Malley
Robin O'Malley is a senior fellow and program director at The Heinz Center. Mr. O'Malley directs The Heinz Center’s State of the Nation’s Ecosystems project, which involves working with large numbers of collaborators and committee members from business, environmental, academic, and government institutions. Prior to joining The Heinz Center in November 1997, Mr. O’Malley was employed at the Department of the Interior, where he led U.S. government efforts to establish a biodiversity information network throughout the Americas. From 1993 to 1996, he was chief of staff for the National Biological Survey, where he was responsible for numerous program development, budgeting, implementation, and outreach activities. Mr. O'Malley has also served as a special assistant to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, deputy science advisor within the Interior Department; associate director for Natural Resources at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ); senior environmental advisor to Governor Thomas H. Kean of New Jersey, and in a variety of environmental positions involving financing of environmental infrastructure, hazardous site remediation, and solid waste management, within New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection. He holds a master's degree from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York.
Jane L. Ross
Jane L. Ross is director, Center for Economic, Governance and International Studies, National Research Council of The National Academies. Previously, she was the deputy commissioner for Policy at the Social Security Administration (SSA). In that position she was an advisor to the Commissioner of Social Security on policy issues, as well as the leader of the policy analysis and research office. She spent several years as the director for Income Security Issues and senior assistant director for Medicare and Medicaid Issues at the U.S. General Accounting Office. Prior to that, Ms. Ross has been the deputy associate commissioner for Policy and the Director of the Office of Research, Statistics, and International Policy at SSA. She has served as a consultant to the social security system of Bulgaria on policy analysis and strategic planning matters. Ms. Ross has written and spoken on the long-range financing of social security, the role of social security in the financial security of women and the importance of financial planning for retirement. She was a founding member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and is a member of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. She received her PhD in economics from American University.
Theodore Heintz
Theodore Heintz is the Indicator Coordinator on the White House Council on Environmental Quality. He has worked on policy and management of natural and environmental resources for over 30 years. In the Office of Policy Analysis at the Interior Department, he managed small groups of economists and policy analysts that dealt with a broad range of resource systems and issues. Since 1993, he has worked extensively in the development of natural and environmental resource indicators. He has been a member of the Interagency Working Group on Sustainable Development Indicators and is a member of four ongoing roundtables that are developing criteria and indicators for sustainable resource management. These roundtables address forests, rangelands, minerals, and water resources. He is also a member of the Design Committee for the H. John Heinz III Center’s report on the State of the Nation’s Ecosystems. He is currently on detail to the White House Council on Environmental Quality to lead an Interagency Working Group that is developing plans for a national system of indicators on natural and environmental resources.
Katherine K. Wallman
Katherine K. Wallman currently serves as chief statistician at the United States Office of Management and Budget. In this capacity, she oversees and coordinates U.S. federal statistical policies, standards, and programs; develops and advances long-term improvements in federal statistical activities; and represents the U.S. Government in international statistical organizations, including the UN and the OECD. During her tenure, she has increased collaboration among the agencies of the U.S. statistical system, fostered improvements in the scope and quality of the nation’s official statistics, strengthened the protections for confidential statistical information, and initiated changes that have made the products of the system more accessible and usable. Prior to assuming the position of chief statistician in 1992, she served for more than a decade as executive director of the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics, a coalition of organizations concerned with fostering communication among users and producers of federal statistics and improving the utility and accessibility of the nation's statistical resources. Earlier in her career, she worked for several years in the Office of Federal Statistical Policy and Standards, as well as in the National Center for Education Statistics. Her special interests include increasing cooperation between the several levels of government in the production of national statistics, strengthening the interface between academic and government statisticians, and enhancing the statistical literacy of the public. Ms. Wallman, a Presidential Meritorious Executive, is an elected member of the International Statistical Institute, a fellow of the American Statistical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a founder member of the International Association for Official Statistics. In 1992, she served as president of the American Statistical Association. Ms. Wallman, who was elected to serve as chairman of the United Nations Statistical Commission during 2004 and 2005, is currently completing her second term as chairman of the Conference of European Statisticians, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.