Wolfgang Opitz

When we think of Wolfgang Opitz, the term Brave Pioneer comes to our minds. In his position as Deputy Director of Washington State’s Office of Financial Management, Wolf shepherded the first Price of Government effort inside the public sector. It was a large undertaking that required a leader who was willing to go through uncharted territory with us and embrace a new way of doing business. Wolf filled the bill.

Wolf, with the strong leadership commitment of Governor Gary Locke, Fred Kiga, Marty Brown, and legislators, pushed the envelope to transform the budgeting process. Faced with a

$2.4 billion budget shortfall for 2003-2005 biennium, they looked for a better way than more across the board cuts, and chose to apply PSG’s Price of Government/Budgeting for Outcomes methodology.

At the end, Wolf likened himself to a “general contractor” in a construction project. He worked with a ‘design committee’ made up of an array of business and government leaders. He had a knowledgeable “superintendent’ Candace Espeseth and “yard boss” Lynn McGuire – as well as excellent staff teams. He used our ‘blueprint’. They got clear about the end results that mattered to Washingtonians – and the best minds on how produce them. Wolf, along with the others, was courageous and smart – bringing to this effort the best of public service and leadership.

Wolf is extremely personable, known for his pearls of wisdom. Here are a few…

Creativity is more important that precision.
Unreasonable time frames only spur on innovation.
Believe it or not, lower your standards! --- Progress, not perfection.