Speakers

Alex Adams was appointed by Governor Brad Little as the Budget and Regulatory Chief in 2018. Dr. Adams served as chairman of the state’s Coronavirus Financial Advisory Committee, overseeing the use of CARES Act funds. He has led Governor Little’s zero-based regulation initiative, which has cut or simplified 75% of all state regulations. He holds a bachelor’s degree and doctorate degree from the University of Toledo. He received his master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University.

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Prior to coming to NASBO, Kerns served as Deputy Director at the Idaho Department of Labor, having previously worked in the Idaho Division of Financial Management from 2009-2019 (the state's budget office). In her prior position as Budget Bureau Chief, she led staff in developing, presenting, and advocating for the Governor’s Executive Budget. As a past member of NASBO, Kerns served for two years on the association’s Executive Committee.

Earlier in her career, Kerns was executive director of the Idaho Rural Partnership, program director at the Idaho Association of REALTORS®, and assistant executive director of the Idaho Wool Growers Association.

Kerns received a master’s degree in business administration from Northwest Nazarene University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Idaho.

Kerns was a Guardian ad litem for children in foster care from 2000-2020; a Family Advocates Board Member from 2016-2019; the 2015 Tribute to Women and Industry Award Recipient; and Idaho Business Review Women of the Year Recipient in 2009.

Matt Pincus serves as the Director of Government Affairs for the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) in Washington, D.C. In this capacity, Matt works with association partners, Congress, federal agencies and the White House to advance the national priorities and initiatives on behalf of the state chief information officers (CIOs). Prior to joining NASCIO, he was the Deputy Legislative Director at the National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS) and served as Military Legislative Assistant (MLA) to U.S. Representative John Carney (DE-AL).

Matt holds a B.A. in History and Government from Skidmore College and an M.A in Global Security Studies from Johns Hopkins University.

Jeff Davis is a Senior Fellow with the Eno Center for Transportation and is also the Editor of the Eno Transportation Weekly.

Jeff came to Washington in 1988 to attend The American University and soon began working on Capitol Hill for the ranking minority member of the House Rules Committee. For six years he worked on a wide variety of legislative, budget process oversight and parliamentary procedure issues.

In January 1996 Jeff joined a transportation consulting firm and worked extensively on the FAA, Amtrak and surface transportation reauthorization laws in 1996-1998 as well as various appropriations bills.  He founded his own research and consulting business in June 1998 and published Transportation Weekly, a news service covering federal transportation and public works, from 1999-2014.

He joined the Eno Center in January 2015. His work focuses on analysis of the federal transportation budget and the long-term trends in transportation funding and policy.

Follow him on Twitter at @JDwithTW

Author Archive: Katherine Barrett & Richard Greene

Over the course of nearly 30 years, Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, principals of Barrett and Greene, Inc. have done much-praised analysis, research and writing about state and local governments. Described by Peter Harkness, founder of Governing Magazine as "by far the most experienced journalists in the country covering public performance," they pioneered "grading the cities, counties and states" in management. Related to that work, they founded the Government Performance Project. They are columnists and senior advisors at Route Fifty, special project consultants to the Volcker Alliance, senior advisors at the Government Finance Research Center at the University of Illinois in Chicago and fellows in the National Academy of Public Administration. Greene has been named chair of The Center for Accountability and Performance at the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA). In addition, they are visiting fellows at the IBM Center for the Business of Government and consultants to the National Association of State Personnel Executives.

Bill Lucia is a senior editor for Government Executive's Route Fifty. He previously covered Seattle city government for Crosscut.com and holds a master's in public administration from the University of Washington's Evans School of Public Affairs.

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