| jim@psg.us
My mission to transform governments hatched in a tiny, windowless office in the Iowa DOT when I discovered Reinventing Government. Now, with almost 30 years of public service experience, I am able to devote all my professional efforts to transformation.
During Governor Tom Vilsack’s administration in Iowa (1999-2007), I led performance, accountability, and ultimately transformation for the State. I drafted and led implementation of Iowa’s Accountable Government Act. Through a Reinvention Partnership with PSG, we created many transformational levers for Iowa state government.
One of our initiatives, Iowa Charter Agencies, won a $100,000 Innovation in American Government Award sponsored by the Ash Institute at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. Iowa Charter Agencies was |
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also recognized with a Council of State Government Innovation Award. Other levers included Purchasing Results budgeting, the Results Iowa website, Entrepreneurial Management for internal services, “lean” and “Zoom” business process improvement, and Child Welfare redesign. I also facilitated Iowa’s 2010 Strategic Planning Council.
My service spans all three levels of government – local, state, and federal – and all three branches – legislative, executive, and judicial. Early years included a public defender internship in Fairbanks, Alaska, a clerkship with the Iowa Supreme Court, and work on the Washington staff of Iowa Congressman Jim Leach. My wife, Liz, and I are also proud of service as a U.S. diplomat in Prague during the 1989 Velvet Revolution. I built on that experience to lead post-communist economics and agribusiness projects in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe for Iowa State University. I also served on the Ames, Iowa school board. My state service began by implementing improvement projects in the Iowa DOT, including managed competition, regulatory streamlining, and intergovernmental sharing.
My undergraduate degree is in history from Iowa State University (Phi Beta Kappa) and my law degree is from the University of California at Berkeley.
I also enjoy teaching strategic public management in Iowa State University's Masters in Public Administration program and speaking widely on government transformation. In my spare time, I like to read history and biographies, bike, volunteer at my old boy scout camp on the Mississippi, and connect with friends and family.
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