About Us
Co-Chairs
Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. is the 12th president of Purdue University and the former governor of Indiana. During his tenure, Indiana went from bankruptcy to a AAA credit rating, led the nation in infrastructure building, and passed sweeping education reforms, including the nation’s first statewide school choice voucher program. At Purdue, he has prioritized affordability and student success. He froze tuition and committed to maintaining the freeze for at least four years, called for greater accountability in higher education, and invested in a series of initiatives that are expanding Purdue’s STEM focus and facilitating the commercialization of faculty discoveries. In recognition of his leadership as both a governor and a university president, Daniels was named among the Top 50 World Leaders by Fortune Magazine in March 2015. Previously, Daniels served as President of Eli Lilly’s North American Pharmaceutical Operations, as a senior advisor to President Ronald Reagan and as Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush. He earned a bachelor's degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton in 1971 and his law degree from Georgetown in 1979.
Leon Panetta is most recently the former Secretary of Defense (2011-13) and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (2009-11). Previously, he served as President Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff (1994-97), Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1993-94), and a United States Representative from California's 17th district (1977-93). During his time in Congress, he chaired the House Committee on the Budget from 1989-93, and served as chairman of many subcommittees and task forces. He founded the Panetta Institute for Public Policy in 1998 with his wife, Sylvia, and serves on many boards and commissions, including the Public Policy Institute of California.
Penny represented Minnesota’s First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives
from 1982-1994. Throughout his congressional career, Penny placed an emphasis on
budget issues. He chaired the Democratic Budget Group as well as the Porkbusters Coalition.
Previously, he was a member of the Minnesota State Senate from 1976-82. In 2001, he
was appointed to President Bush's bipartisan commission on Social Security. Most recently,
Penny was a senior counselor at Himle Horner, a Twin Cities-based public relations and
public affairs firm, and co-chair of the Humphrey Institute Forum at the University of Minnesota.
Currently, Penny serves as Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation’s (SMIF) president
& CEO. He is the co-author of two books, Common Cents (1995) and The 15 Biggest
Lies in Politics (1998).
President
Maya MacGuineas is the President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget as well as the head of the Campaign to Fix the Debt. Her areas of expertise include budget, tax, and economic policy. MacGuineas testifies regularly before Congress and has published broadly. Once dubbed “an anti-deficit warrior” by The Wall Street Journal, Maya comments often on broadcast news and is widely cited by the national press. In the spring of 2009 Maya did a stint on The Washington Post editorial board, covering economic and fiscal policy.
Maya has worked at the Brookings Institution and on Wall Street. As a political independent, she has advised numerous candidates for office from both parties, and works regularly with members of Congress on health, economic, tax, and budget policy.
Directors
Barry Anderson is currently the deputy director of the National Governors Association. Previously, he was the head of the Budgeting and Public Expenditures Division in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. Prior
to joining OECD, Mr. Anderson was a budget advisor at the International Monetary
Fund. Before joining the IMF, Mr. Anderson served in various positions dealing with
federal budgeting in the United States Federal Government, most recently as the deputy
director and then the acting director of the Congressional Budget Office. He has
also been a member of the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board, and has
taught courses on the U.S. budget process for George Washington University and the
Office of Personnel Management.
Mr. Bowles served as the director of the Small Business Administration, deputy chief of staff (1994-95) and chief of staff (1996-98) under the Clinton Administration. He served as president of the University of North Carolina system from 2006 until 2010. Most recently, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform with fellow CRFB board member Senator Alan Simpson. Mr. Bowles is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and began his business career at Morgan Stanley & Co. in New York. He later returned home to North Carolina, where he founded and served as chairman and CEO of a Charlotte-based investment banking firm.
Mr. Bowsher was the comptroller general of the General Accounting Office, appointed by
President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Prior to that, he was with Arthur Andersen & Co. for 25
years and served as assistant secretary of the Navy for Financial Management. Currently, he
sits on several corporate and advisory boards, and is a member of the Public Accounting
Oversight Board.
Kent Conrad is a former United States Senator who represented North Dakota from 1992 to 2013. He served as Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee from 2001 to 2003, and again from 2007 to 2013. He served as Ranking Member of the Committee from 2003 to 2007. In addition, he served as Chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Taxation, IRS Oversight, and Long-Term Growth. He previously served as Tax Commissioner of North Dakota. Conrad served on the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Bowles-Simpson Commission), and supported the Commission's final recommendations. He currently serves on the board of Genworth Financial.
Mr. Crippen served as the director of the Congressional Budget Office from 1999 through
2003. Prior to his stint at CBO, Mr. Crippen was President George H. W. Bush's adviser on
all issues relating to domestic policy, including the preparation of the federal budget. From
1981 to 1985, he served as chief counsel and economic policy adviser to Senate Majority
Leader Howard Baker of Tennessee. In the private sector, he was a principal with the Washington
Counsel, a consulting firm. He has also served as executive director of the Merrill
Lynch International Advisory Council and as senior vice president of the Duberstein Group.
Mr. Fazio is a former Democratic congressman who represented the state of California between
1979 and 1999. Congressman Fazio served on the Budget and Appropriations Committees,
among others, and was an active member of the Democratic leadership, rising to
chairman of the Democratic Caucus in 1994. Currently, Mr. Fazio is a senior advisor at the
law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
Mr. Gradison served nine terms in Congress as a member from Ohio, where he was the
ranking member of the House Budget Committee and the ranking member on the Health
Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee. Prior to that, he was the assistant
to the secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, an under secretary of the Treasury, and
mayor of Cincinnati. Since leaving Congress, he has been president of the Health Insurance
Association of America, a member of the audit committee for Project HOPE, and the senior
public policy counselor at Patton Boggs. Currently, he is a member of the Board of the Public
Company Accounting Oversight Board.
Mr. Hoagland, who currently serves as the Senior Vice President at the Bipartisan Policy Center, served as the director of Budget and Appropriations in the Office of the Senate Majority Leader. From 1982 until 2003, Mr. Hoagland
was a staff member of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, serving as staff director from
1986 to 2003. He also was the administrator of the Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition
Service and as a special assistant to the secretary of Agriculture and at the Congressional
Budget Office. He currently is an affiliate professor of public policy at the George Mason
University.
Mr. Jones currently serves as a co-chairman and chief executive officer of Manatt Jones
Global Strategies, a business consulting firm, and is senior counsel to the law firm of
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. Prior to joining the firm, he served as U.S. ambassador to Mexico
from 1993 to 1997. Mr. Jones has also served as president of Warnaco International and
chairman and CEO of the American Stock Exchange. As congressman of Oklahoma from
1973 to 1987, he was chairman of the House Budget Committee and a ranking member of
the House Ways and Means Committee. When he was only 28, President Lyndon Johnson
selected him as chief of staff, making him the youngest person in history to hold this position.
Mr. Jones serves on a number of Boards including thos of Anheuser Busch and the
Kaiser Family Foundation.
Mrs. Kerr is an active leader in the community of Oklahoma City as well as the state and the
country. She is president and chair of The Kerr Foundation, Inc. Mrs. Kerr is involved in
many activities, boards and philanthropic endeavors. Ms. Kerr sits on many boards, including
the Women's Leadership Board of the John F. Kennedy School of Government-Harvard
University, University of Oklahoma International Programs Center with Ambassador Edward
Pekins and Ambassador Edwin Corr, UMB-Oklahoma Bank, Lyric Theatre, the International
Business Forum, and the Advisory Board for the Oklahoma Health Center Foundation.
She is chair of the Capitol Preservation Commission for Oklahoma, a national trustee
for the National Symphony Orchestra, and serves on the Truman Foundation Scholarship
Selection Committee. In 1995, President Clinton appointed her to the Oklahoma City
Scholarship Fund Advisory Board.
Mr. Kolbe is a former member of the US House of Representatives from the state of Arizona,
serving from 1985 through 2007. While in the House, he was a member of the Appropriations
Committee, serving as chair of the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export
Financing and Related Programs. He now serves as a senior transatlantic fellow at the
German Marshall Fund think tank, in addition to being a consultant for Kissinger McLarty
Associates. He is co-chair of the Transatlantic Taskforce on Development with Gunilla
Carlsson, the Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation. He also serves
as an adjunct professor in the College of Business at the University of Arizona.
Dave McCurdy represented Oklahoma's 4th district in the House from 1981 to 1995. In his time in the House, he served as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee from 1991 to 1993. He was also the chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council from 1993 to 1995. Prior to being elected to the House, McCurdy served as the Assistant Attorney General of Oklahoma. He currently serves as President and CEO of the American Gas Association.
Mr. McIntyre joined the Carter administration as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, becoming director later that year. Prior to that, he was general counsel for the Georgia Municipal Association, serving until appointment as seputy state revenue commissioner in 1970. While serving as deputy state revenue commissioner, he was appointed director of the Office of Planning and Budget for the State by Governor Carter. After he left government, he established the McIntyre Law Firm. Mr. McIntyre is a trustee of Young Harris College.
Mr. Minge, a former U.S. representative from Minnesota, served on the House Agriculture
Committee, House Budget Committee, Joint Economic Committee, and the House Science
Committee. He is co-founder and past member of the Clean Up the River Environment
Board as well as co-founder and past chair of the Agricultural Law Section of the Minnesota
State Bar Association. Currently, Mr. Minge is a judge for the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
In addition, he is a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., a fellow
in the W.W. Kellogg Foundation Food and Society Policy Program, and a lecturer at the
University of Minnesota, Morris.
Dr. O'Neill served as director of the Congressional Budget Office from 1995 to 1999. Prior
to that, she held positions as director of policy and research at the U.S. Commission on
Civil Rights, senior economist on the President's Council of Economic Advisers, senior research
associate at the Urban Institute, and research associate at the Brookings Institution.
She was elected vice president of the American Economics Association in 1998. Currently,
she is the director of the Center for the Study of Business and Government at Baruch College,
CUNY. She is also an adjunct scholar of the American Enterprise Institute.
Paul H. O’Neill is a Senior Advisor and Consultant to The Blackstone Group. Mr. O’Neill served as the 72nd Secretary of the U.S. Treasury from 2001 to 2002. Previously, he was chairman and CEO of Alcoa from 1987 to 1999, retiring as chairman at the end of 2000. Prior to joining Alcoa, Mr. O’Neill was president of International Paper Company from 1985 to 1987, where he was vice president from 1977 to 1985. Mr. O’Neill was on the staff of the Office of Management and Budget from 1967 to 1977, serving as deputy director from 1974 to 1977. He worked as a computer systems analyst with the U.S. Veterans Administration from 1961 to 1966.
Mr. Obernauer is chairman of the Beverage Distributors Company. He was formerly vice
chairman and director of Applied Graphics Technologies, Inc., and chairman and CEO of
Devon Group, Inc. before the company merged with Applied Graphics. He spent nearly a
decade as an investment officer with Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette and with First National
City Bank (now Citibank). He is a founding member and director of the American
Business Conference and a trustee of the Trinity School in New York City.
Mr. Packwood represented the state of Oregon in the United States Senate for 26 years. While in the Senate, he was chair of the Senate Commerce Committee and was chair of the Senate Finance Committee when the landmark Tax Reform Act of 1986 was passed. Prior to being in the Senate, he served in the Oregon House of Representatives for six years.
Rudolph G. Penner is a senior fellow at the Urban Institute. Previously, he was a managing
director of the Barents Group, a KPMG Company. He was director of the Congressional
Budget Office from 1983 to 1987. From 1977 to 1983, he was a resident scholar at the
American Enterprise Institute. Previous posts in government include assistant director for
economic policy at the Office of Management and Budget, deputy assistant secretary for economic
affairs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and senior staff
economist at the Council of Economic Advisors.
Mr. Peterson is the founder and chairman of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. He is also chairman emeritus of The Blackstone Group, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, chairman emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the founding chairman of the Institute for International Economics. He is also the founding president of The Concord Coalition. Prior to this, he served as chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers and secretary of Commerce under President Nixon.
Dr. Reischauer was the director of the Congressional Budget Office from 1989 to 1995. Before
that he served as the Urban Institute's senior vice president from 1981 to 1986. He was
the Congressional Budget Office's assistant director for human resources and its deputy director
between 1977 and 1981. After leaving government, he was a senior fellow at the
Brookings Institution. Currently, he is the president of the Urban Institute and serves on
the boards of several educational and nonprofit organizations.
Dr. Rivlin became the founding director of the Congressional Budget Office in 1975 and served until 1983. She was director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Clinton administration. Later she was a governor and vice chair of the Federal Reserve. Currently, she is the director of the Greater Washington Research Program and senior fellow of Economic Studies at The Brookings Institution. She is also a visiting professor at the Public Policy Institute of Georgetown University.
Charles S. Robb is on the faculty of George Mason University as a Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy in 2001. Previously he served as Lt. Governor of Virginia, from 1978 to 1982, as Virginia’s 64th Governor, from 1982 to 1986, and as a United States Senator, from 1989 to 2001. While in the Senate he became the first member ever to serve simultaneously on all three national security committees (Intelligence, Armed Services, and Foreign Relations). He also served on the Finance, Commerce, and Budget Committees. Since leaving the Senate in 2001 he has served as Chairman of the Board of Visitors at the United States Naval Academy, Co-Chairman of the President’s Commission on Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction. He has also been a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, the Secretary of State’s International Security Advisory Board, the Iraq Study Group, and the Afghanistan Study Group, and was a Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard and at the Marshall Wythe School of Law at William & Mary.
Mr. Simpson served as United States Senator from Wyoming for 18 years. While in Congress, Senator Simpson served as Chairman of the Veteran’s Committee, Immigration and Refugee Subcommittee of Judiciary, the Nuclear Regulation Subcommittee, the Social Security Subcommittee and the Committee on Aging. Recently, Simpson was appointed as co-chair to President Barack Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform with co-chair Eskine Bowles. During his time at the Fiscal Commission, he and fellow co-chair Erskine Bowles were able to garner a bipartisan majority of 11 out of 18 Commission members to support a final debt reduction plan.
Rep. Spratt served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 28 years. While in Congress, he served as Chairman of the House Budget Committee from 2007 to 2011 and also served on the Armed Services Committee. During his time in Congress, Rep. Spratt championed fiscal responsibility and played a critical role in budget negotiations in the 1990s, which led to surpluses for the first time in 30 years. Rep. Spratt was also appointed to President Obama's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, where he helped garner a bipartisan majority of 11 out of 18 votes in support of a final debt reduction plan.
Rep. Stenholm was a representative from Texas for 26 years. While in Congress, he served
on the Agriculture Committee and was founder and coordinator of the Conservative Democratic
Forum in the 1980s. Stenholm consistently advanced fiscal responsibility in the
federal budget. The balanced budget plans which Stenholm crafted in both the 104th and
105th Congresses with a group of moderate and conservative Democrats known as the "Blue
Dog Coalition" have received wide national acclaim as the most honest, pragmatic, and fair
proposals on the table. Currently, Mr. Stenholm is a senior policy advisor at Olsson Frank
Weeda, P.C.
Eugene Steuerle is a senior fellow at The Urban Institute and a columnist for Tax Notes Magazine. In the past, he has
served as deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury for tax analysis, president of the National
Tax Association, chair of the 1999 Technical Panel advising Social Security on its methods
and assumptions, economic coordinator and original organizer of the 1984 Treasury study
that led to the Tax Reform Act of 1986, and a columnist for the Financial Times. Dr.
Steuerle is the author, co-author, editor or co-editor of fifteen books.
Mr. Stockman is the founding partner of Heartland Industrial Partners. He was formerly a
senior managing director of The Blackstone Group. Prior to joining Blackstone, Mr. Stockman
was a managing director at Salomon Brothers, Inc. He served as the director of the Office
of Management and Budget in the Reagan administration and was the youngest Cabinet
member of the twentieth century. From 1976 to 1981, Mr. Stockman represented
Michigan in the House of Representatives.
Mr. Tanner was a representative from Tennessee for 22 years. While in Congress, he served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Committee on Ways and Means, and was one of the founders of the Blue Dog Democrats. Additionally, Rep. Tanner served as President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. As a member of Congress, Tanner was a strong advocate of balancing the budget and paying down the debt.
Tom Tauke represented Iowa's 2nd district in the House from 1979 to 1991. During his tenure, he served on the House Energy and Commerce, Education and Labor, Small Business, and Aging Committees. Prior to his time in Congress, he served in the Iowa General Assembly from 1975 to 1979. He is currently the executive vice president for Public Affairs, Policy, and Communications at Verizon.
Mr. Voinovich served as United States senator from Ohio for 11 years. He previously served as governor of Ohio from 1991-1998, and mayor of Cleveland from 1980-1989. While in Congress, Senator Voinovich served on the Committee on Appropriations, Committee on Environment and Public Works, and the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. Voinovich is recognized for his fiscal leadership on budget policies.
Mr. Volcker served under five presidents- from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan to the current one, Barack Obama. He is currently the chairman of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. He
served as under secretary of the Treasury for monetary affairs from 1969 to 1974 and as
president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank for the subsequent five years. He served as
chairman of the Federal Reserve System under Presidents Carter and Reagan. He later became
chairman and CEO of Wolfensohn & Co., Inc., and a professor of international economics
at Princeton University. Since his retirement from the Federal Reserve, Mr. Volcker
has served in a variety of public-service roles, including as a volunteer chairman of the Commission
on Public Service and chair of the International Independent Committee of Eminent
Persons, which investigates the Swiss bank accounts of holocaust victims. In the wake
of the Enron scandal, he was involved in revamping Arthur Andersen.
Carol Wait is president of Boggs Realty Company, a family owned real estate company that
has done business in Bellflower, California since 1936. Previously, she served as the president
of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. President George H.W. Bush appointed
Mrs. Wait to the Glass Ceiling Commission. Mrs. Wait serves on the Board of
CIGNA Corporation and is a past president of the International Women’s Forum. Currently,
Mrs. Wait serves as resident of the International Women’s Forum Leadership Foundation.
Mr. Walker is the Founder and CEO of the Comeback America Initiative (CAI). In this capacity he leads CAI's efforts to promote fiscal responsibility and sustainability by engaging the public and assisting key policymakers on a non-partisan basis to help achieve solutions to America’s federal, state and local fiscal imbalances. Prior to assuming his current position, he served as the first President and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. Previously, he served as the seventh Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) for almost ten years (1998-2008). He also has over 20 years of private sector experience, including approximately 10 years as a Partner and Global Managing Director of Human Capital Services for Arthur Andersen LLP. Mr. Walker has also authored three books, is a frequent writer and media commentator, and is a subject of the critically acclaimed documentary "I.O.U.S.A."
Mr. Wright currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Tempus Applied Solutions, Senior Advisor to Chart Capital Partners, The Chart Group and The Comvest Group, is Chairman of the Investment Committee of the ClearSky Fund of NextEra and is on the Boards of the Cowen Group Inc., Adayana, Priority Holdings, EBIX and several government related entities. In the 1980s, he served under President Ronald Reagan as Director and Deputy Director of the Federal Office of Management and Budget, was a member of the President’s Cabinet and was Deputy Secretary of Commerce. He received the Distinguished Citizens Award from President Reagan and was appointed to the President’s Export Council by President H.W. Bush as Chairman of the Export Control Sub-Committee; then to the President’s Commission on the U.S. Postal Service Reform and the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) by President W. Bush and currently serves on President Obama and Secretary Carter’s Defense Business Board.