Bob Rafferty

brafferty@psg.us

My focus is helping governments deliver more results for every tax dollar spent.  I have spent close to two decades working on that effort in a variety of different roles.  

I started out as a state legislator for the State of Iowa.  There is no substitute for understanding the perspective of an elected official than having served in that role.

After two terms in the Iowa House, I had the opportunity to serve as Iowa Governor Terry Branstad’s Chief of Staff and than as the Director of the Iowa Department of Management, where I was the Chief Financial Officer for the State.  Jumping to the executive branch from the legislative branch was an eye-opener.  It became quite evident during that time that successfully

leading executive agency staff can create more powerful results for citizens than a legislative agenda.

I have had the pleasure to work with a number of governments across the country, helping the organizations improve services while closing budget gaps.  Those governments have included the State of Iowa, Wichita, KS, the Metro of Nashville, TN, Olympia, WA, the District of Columbia, Jackson County (Kansas City) MO, Franklin County (Columbus), OH and Maricopa County (Phoenix), AZ.   I have also had the opportunity to present at national conferences on performance management, including Governing Magazine’s Annual Managing Performance Conference and the National Association of Counties Annual Meeting.  I also worked for IBM, in their Global Government Industry Division, assisting state and local governments with their technology strategies.

In 2002, I was asked to chair the Program Elimination Committee for the State of Iowa, which was a citizen committee appointed by the legislature to assist with reducing the budget deficit.  While I would caution anyone about taking on the chair of any committee with the words “Program Elimination” attached to it, it was a worthwhile experience.  While it put the spotlight on us from the beginning, it did allow the committee to look at new approaches to delivering traditional services.  While only portions of the recommendations were adopted in the first year, every subsequent year finds additional recommendations of the agenda being implemented.