Max Stier is the founding president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service. At the Partnership, he oversees efforts to provide data, insights and recommendations to the executive and legislative branches, create and deliver programs for federal leaders at all levels, strengthen and support the federal workforce, and build connections among the public, private and charitable sectors.
Under his watch, the Partnership has grown its budget, portfolio and profile, becoming a trusted authority on federal management and workforce issues through such initiatives as the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals® program, the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® rankings, the Call to Serve network and the Center for Presidential Transition®.
A former public servant in all three branches of government and a member of the Inaugural Advisory Council of the National Institute of Social Sciences, Max has authored more than 100 opinion pieces, is routinely called upon to testify on major issues before Congress, and has been cited in outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He was also featured in Michael Lewis’ best-selling book, “The Fifth Risk,” and has been named “Washingtonian of the Year” by Washingtonian Magazine—an award recognizing “people who make our region better.”
Before coming to the Partnership, Max worked on the personal staff of Rep. Jim Leach, as a clerk for Chief Judge James Oakes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for Justice David Souter of the U.S. Supreme Court. He also served as special litigation counsel to Assistant Attorney General Anne Bingaman at the Department of Justice. In 1995, he joined the law firm of Williams & Connolly, where he practiced primarily in the area of white-collar defense. In his most recent federal role, he served as the deputy general counsel for litigation at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
While working in government, Max realized just how much great leaders can influence and improve their organizations. At Justice, he started a paralegal program modeled on the private sector and watched as an influx of talented young graduates energized and transformed the agency’s culture. At HUD, he witnessed the potent role that skillful leaders play in making a difference for the American public.
Neil Irwin is the chief economic correspondent at Axios, the digital media company. He reports on and analyzes U.S. and global economic trends, the Federal Reserve, financial markets, and how they interconnect. He is the lead author of Axios Macro, an e-mail newsletter sent each weekday at noon that is a succinct daily update on the key economic and policy developments that form the backdrop of global business.
He is the author of two books: The Alchemists: Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire, a New York Times bestselling narrative of the world's central bankers fighting the global financial crisis; and How to Win in a Winner-Take-All World, an exploration of how to best navigate a career in the 21st century economy.
From 2014 to 2021, Irwin was senior economic correspondent at The New York Times, where he wrote analysis and commentary on economic and financial market trends. His notable Times articles included one identifying the "Everything Boom" in global asset prices; a memorable story explaining U.S. inequality through a tale of two janitors in different eras; and an influential essay on the beneath-the-radar "mini-recession" in 2015 that had lasting consequences for U.S. politics and economics.
Prior to the Times, Irwin was a reporter and columnist at The Washington Post for 13 years, where he led coverage of the global financial crisis and was named as among the Federal Reserve reporters whose work most moved financial markets.
He often analyzes economic trends on television and radio, including appearances on the PBS Newshour, CBS This Morning, BBC America, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, and public radio's Marketplace. He is a member of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group, a group of leading economic thinkers, executives, and former public officials.
Irwin has an M.B.A. from Columbia University, where he was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economic and Business Journalism. His undergraduate studies were at St. Mary's College of Maryland, where he served on the Board of Trustees from 2007 to 2013.
Danny Werfel serves as the 50th Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. As Commissioner, he presides over the nation's tax system, which collects approximately $4.1 trillion in tax revenue each year representing about 96% of the total gross receipts of the United States. Commissioner Werfel oversees an agency of about 85,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $12 billion.
Commissioner Werfel has an extensive range of experience inside and outside of government. Prior to becoming Commissioner, he was the global leader of Boston Consulting Group's (BCG) Public Sector practice. Previously, he was the leader of BCG's Public Sector practice in North America. In these roles, he worked with government agencies worldwide on finances, service delivery, transformation plans and risk-assessment initiatives.
Before joining BCG in 2014, Commissioner Werfel served in the federal government for more than 15 years, including seven months as Acting Commissioner of the IRS from May to December 2013. Prior to his appointment as Acting Commissioner, he was Controller of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), where he led efforts across the federal government to improve program integrity, including all areas of financial management, financial reporting, accounting standards, improper payments and financial systems, among others. During his tenure as Controller, Commissioner Werfel assumed the responsibility of Deputy Director of Management, where he oversaw governmentwide efforts to reform and improve personnel, IT, acquisition and performance management. While at OMB, he also served as Deputy Controller, Chief of the Financial Integrity and Analysis Branch, Budget Examiner in the Education Branch, and Policy Analyst in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. During his time at OMB, Commissioner Werfel served under nine different directors in both Republican and Democratic administrations. He has also served as a Trial Attorney in the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.
Commissioner Werfel has received both national and local awards from the Association of Government Accountants for his contributions to Federal financial management. He received the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service in 2008. He also served as a member of the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board from 2006 to 2009 and the Defense Business Board from 2014 to 2016.
Commissioner Werfel holds a Master's Degree in Public Policy from Duke University, a Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor's Degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.
Max Stier is the founding president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service. At the Partnership, he oversees efforts to provide data, insights and recommendations to the executive and legislative branches, create and deliver programs for federal leaders at all levels, strengthen and support the federal workforce, and build connections among the public, private and charitable sectors.
Under his watch, the Partnership has grown its budget, portfolio and profile, becoming a trusted authority on federal management and workforce issues through such initiatives as the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals® program, the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® rankings, the Call to Serve network and the Center for Presidential Transition®.
A former public servant in all three branches of government and a member of the Inaugural Advisory Council of the National Institute of Social Sciences, Max has authored more than 100 opinion pieces, is routinely called upon to testify on major issues before Congress, and has been cited in outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He was also featured in Michael Lewis’ best-selling book, “The Fifth Risk,” and has been named “Washingtonian of the Year” by Washingtonian Magazine—an award recognizing “people who make our region better.”
Before coming to the Partnership, Max worked on the personal staff of Rep. Jim Leach, as a clerk for Chief Judge James Oakes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for Justice David Souter of the U.S. Supreme Court. He also served as special litigation counsel to Assistant Attorney General Anne Bingaman at the Department of Justice. In 1995, he joined the law firm of Williams & Connolly, where he practiced primarily in the area of white-collar defense. In his most recent federal role, he served as the deputy general counsel for litigation at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
While working in government, Max realized just how much great leaders can influence and improve their organizations. At Justice, he started a paralegal program modeled on the private sector and watched as an influx of talented young graduates energized and transformed the agency’s culture. At HUD, he witnessed the potent role that skillful leaders play in making a difference for the American public.
Neil Irwin is the chief economic correspondent at Axios, the digital media company. He reports on and analyzes U.S. and global economic trends, the Federal Reserve, financial markets, and how they interconnect. He is the lead author of Axios Macro, an e-mail newsletter sent each weekday at noon that is a succinct daily update on the key economic and policy developments that form the backdrop of global business.
From 2014 to 2021, Irwin was senior economic correspondent at The New York Times, where he wrote analysis and commentary on economic and financial market trends. His notable Times articles included one identifying the "Everything Boom" in global asset prices; a memorable story explaining U.S. inequality through a tale of two janitors in different eras; and an influential essay on the beneath-the-radar "mini-recession" in 2015 that had lasting consequences for U.S. politics and economics.
Prior to the Times, Irwin was a reporter and columnist at The Washington Post for 13 years, where he led coverage of the global financial crisis and was named as among the Federal Reserve reporters whose work most moved financial markets.
He often analyzes economic trends on television and radio, including appearances on the PBS Newshour, CBS This Morning, BBC America, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, and public radio's Marketplace. He is a member of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group, a group of leading economic thinkers, executives, and former public officials.
Danny Werfel serves as the 50th Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. As Commissioner, he presides over the nation's tax system, which collects approximately $4.1 trillion in tax revenue each year representing about 96% of the total gross receipts of the United States. Commissioner Werfel oversees an agency of about 85,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $12 billion.
Commissioner Werfel has an extensive range of experience inside and outside of government. Prior to becoming Commissioner, he was the global leader of Boston Consulting Group's (BCG) Public Sector practice. Previously, he was the leader of BCG's Public Sector practice in North America. In these roles, he worked with government agencies worldwide on finances, service delivery, transformation plans and risk-assessment initiatives.
Before joining BCG in 2014, Commissioner Werfel served in the federal government for more than 15 years, including seven months as Acting Commissioner of the IRS from May to December 2013. Prior to his appointment as Acting Commissioner, he was Controller of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), where he led efforts across the federal government to improve program integrity, including all areas of financial management, financial reporting, accounting standards, improper payments and financial systems, among others. During his tenure as Controller, Commissioner Werfel assumed the responsibility of Deputy Director of Management, where he oversaw governmentwide efforts to reform and improve personnel, IT, acquisition and performance management. While at OMB, he also served as Deputy Controller, Chief of the Financial Integrity and Analysis Branch, Budget Examiner in the Education Branch, and Policy Analyst in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. During his time at OMB, Commissioner Werfel served under nine different directors in both Republican and Democratic administrations. He has also served as a Trial Attorney in the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.
Sophia Cai is a national politics reporter at Axios covering the 2024 presidential campaign. She previously covered the White House and Congress for Bloomberg, where she was part of the team reporting on Trump’s last-minute airlift to Walter Reed, the 2020 election and the aftermath of the insurrection. She has made guest appearances on MSNBC, CNN, CBS News & BBC World News to discuss her reporting, and she has hosted on-stage conversations with GOP presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott, Ohio Sen. JD Vance among other newsmakers. Her work has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and WLRN (Miami’s NPR station).
She serves on the board of the Washington Press Club Foundation and received the 2023 Emerging Journalist of the Year Award from the Asian American Journalists Association. Sophia graduated with a degree in politics and minors in gender studies and journalism from Princeton University.
Amanda Bennett is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, investigative journalist and editor and was named Director of the Voice of America in March 2016. Through 2013, she was Executive Editor, Bloomberg News, where she created and ran a global team of investigative reporters and editors. She was also co-founder of Bloomberg News’ Women’s project. She was editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer from June 2003 to November 2006, and prior to that was editor of the Herald-Leader in Lexington, Kentucky. She also served for three years as managing editor/projects for The Oregonian in Portland. Bennett served as a Wall Street Journal reporter for more than 20 years. A graduate of Harvard College, she held numerous posts at the Journal, including auto industry reporter in Detroit in the late 70s and early 80s, Pentagon and State Department reporter, Beijing correspondent, management editor/reporter, national economics correspondent and, finally, chief of the Atlanta bureau until 1998, when she moved to The Oregonian.
Bennett shared the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting with her Journal colleagues, and in 2001 led a team from The Oregonian to a Pulitzer for public service. Projects by the Bloomberg Projects and Investigations team won numerous awards, including Loeb, Polk, Barlett & Steele, Headliners, Society of American Business Editors and Writers and Overseas Press Club Awards.
She was a member of the board of the Pulitzer Prizes from 2003 to 2011 and served as co-Chair of the Pulitzer Board in 2010.
Brenda “Sue” Fulton was appointed Assistant Secretary, Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs (OPIA) on July 1, 2022. She previously served under Governor Phil Murphy as the Chair and Chief Administrator for the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, leading its transformation to a modernized system with online services and more efficient in-person service. Ms. Fulton provides executive-level oversight and direction to OPIA’s team who help to build and maintain public confidence in VA by developing, routinely updating and communicating the Department’s key messages to many audiences through media relations, public affairs, intergovernmental affairs, outreach and Veteran engagement to reach Veterans and their families, and other stakeholders. OPIA is designated as the enterprise policy and functional coordinator of internal employee and external communications to ensure consistent messaging and to be the unified voice of the Department.
Ms. Fulton is an experienced leader, effective change agent and proven advocate for service members, persons of color, LGBTQ+ communities and women in the military. She played a pivotal role with Knights Out and OutServe in repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and later led SPARTA in fighting to end the ban on transgender service members. She was the first female West Point graduate to chair West Point’s Board of Visitors and advocated for increased admissions for women and persons of color.
Ms. Fulton is a proven advocate for service members, working to support the integration of women in combat arms and mentoring advocates for anti-racism efforts in the military and at West Point. She has worked with numerous non-profit groups, served on the New Jersey State Ethics Commission enforcing the State conflicts of interest law, and been a member of the Board of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.
Richard Coffin is Chief of Research and Advocacy at USAFacts, Steve Ballmer's non-profit, non-partisan civic initiative aimed at empowering Americans with facts by making government data more accessible, understandable, and useable. He joined the organization as its first employee in 2015 and guided it through its initial research and ideation phase, oversaw its launch, and steered its product vision as the organization expanded and evolved.
In his role leading research and advocacy, Richard and his team oversee the organization’s research efforts including its publications, standards of analysis, and subject matter expertise. He is also responsible for the organization’s government outreach and partnerships where he focuses on providing accurate, accessible, and understandable data to government for use in decision-making. In this capacity, he is also responsible for identifying and supporting improvements that can be made to data collected and produced by federal, state, and local government.
Before joining USAFacts, Richard lived in Santiago, Chile as a Fulbright Scholar where he conducted research on changes in voting patterns as a result of new voter registration laws. Previously, he worked as a corporate strategy analyst on the Executive Strategic and Special Projects and Global Advertising teams at Microsoft, and as a polling analyst for the global research and public relations consultancies of Penn, Schoen & Berland and Burson-Marsteller.
Donna Garland is an award-winning communication leader and former member of the US Government Senior Executive Service with decades of experience in government, not-for-profit, corporate and communication agency environments.
Since 2016 she has served as deputy associate administrator for communication at the General Services Administration (GSA). Prior to joining GSA, Donna served as a communication leader at the National Archives and Records Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2010 Donna received a Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service for her communication leadership in the areas of childhood immunization, toxic substances, emergency communication and issues management.
Before joining the federal government, Donna was a communication professional for non-profit organizations (the Children’s Defense Fund and Atlanta Urban League), corporations (Hallmark Cards, Inc.) and public relations agencies, in addition to a range of freelance communication clients. A native Ohioan, Donna has a degree in business and organizational communications from the University of Akron (Ohio).
Eugene Scott is an American journalist born in and based in Washington, D.C. He wrote for The Fix, the daily political blog of The Washington Post. Scott has won multiple awards and fellowships for his work related to covering politics, business and education.
He was born and raised in Washington D.C. and grew up on the Hill in a political family. He graduated from Eastern High School and later went to school in North Carolina and Massachusetts and has worked in Kansas City, Phoenix and South Africa.
Eugene Scott's political journalism career began in the 1990s when he participated in a scholarship program founded by former Washington Post publisher Donald E. Graham. Scott joined The Washington Post's, The Fix in September 2017 to write about identity politics. He was a fellow at the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service. Prior to joining the Post, he was a reporter at CNN covering politics, where he reported on the 2016 presidential election and was the senior reporter on the website's team. Scott regularly provides on-air analysis for MSNBC, NPR, and CBS. He is currently a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.
David Bornstein is a journalist and author who specializes in writing about social innovation, using a style called solutions journalism. He has written three books on social entrepreneurship. He writes for the Fixes blog for The New York Times website and is one of the co-founders of the Solutions Journalism Network.
He was awarded the 2007 Human Security Award for work in social entrepreneurship on October 25, 2007, which is given annually by the Coalition Advocating Human Security, a program of the University of California, Irvine. He also received the 2008 Leadership in Social Entrepreneurship Award from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. He is additionally a co-recipient of the 2014 Vision Award, presented by Middlebury College's Center for Social Entrepreneurship.
Candice McFarlane is an award winning writer, producer and creative director who has shepherded the voice of some of the most recognizable brands and celebrated content. She currently serves as Chief Creative Officer at Cinereach, known for such projects as Beasts of the Southern Wild, Marcel the Shell with the Shoes On and Sorry to Bother You. In this role she sits at the intersection of storytelling, narrative change and social community engagement looking to redefine what stories get told and who gets to tell them. Her thought leadership has led to a reimagining of how artists, companies and philanthropic organizations, at the highest levels in media, center and advance the needs of the people, subjects and socio-political themes they explore. She began her career in branded entertainment at Omnicom Media Group where she managed a high profile roster of brands (Visa, PepsiCo, AT&T), creating original, television, film and live-event based experiences centered on authentic storytelling and audience engagement. She is a proud Georgetown University graduate.
David Julian Shipley is an American journalist, book author, and the editorial page editor at The Washington Post. He is the former executive editor of The New Republic. In 1986, he worked as an editorial assistant at Simon & Schuster in New York City.
In 1990, Shipley worked as an assigning editor for the Op-Ed page at The New York Times. From 1993 to 1995, he was the executive editor of The New Republic. From 1995 to 1997, Shipley served in the Clinton administration as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Presidential Speechwriter. After, from 1998 to 1999, Shipley worked as a deputy editor of The New York Times Magazine's Millennium Project, later becoming a senior editor for the magazine from 1999 to 2000.
Shipley is a former executive editor of Bloomberg View, who oversaw its editorial page and its associated columnists and op-ed contributors. He was chosen for this position in December 2010 and jointly launched Bloomberg View with James P. Rubin in May 2011.
In July 2022, Shipley became The Washington Post's editorial page editor, overseeing the newspaper's Opinions section. He succeeded Fred Hiatt, who died from cardiac arrest in December 2021.
Peter Lattman is the managing director of media at Emerson Collective. He oversees Emerson’s investments and grants in media and journalism, which include The Atlantic, where he serves as vice chair and a member of its board of directors. He also serves on the boards of the Committee to Protect Journalists and American Journalism Project.
Prior to joining Emerson, Peter worked as a journalist at The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Born in New York City, he grew up in Roslyn, on Long Island. He lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his wife, Isabel Gillies, and their three children.
Monica Brezzi is Head of the Governance Indicators and Performance Division in the OECD Directorate for Public Governance. She works on issues related to public governance and trust in institutions, and the use of performance information in policymaking and service delivery. She spearheaded the 2021 OECD Trust Survey, a nationally representative survey on public trust and its drivers implemented in 22 OECD countries. In 2017-19 she was the Director of Technical Assessment and Monitoring at the Council of Europe Development Bank.
Carrie Schum background is in account planning and brand strategy, helping complex organizations simplify, clarify, and elevate their communications. She works on clients that include Harvard University, The Rockefeller Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and broad coalitions addressing issues such as charitable giving and workplace development. She has deep expertise with government agencies and programs, and has led communications programs for the CDC, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the IRS, and NIH.
As a core member of the team for the IRS’s agency of record from 2008-2013, she helped plan and execute outreach campaigns for tax filing season each year, as well as to encourage uptake of the Earned Income Tax Credit; she also led the re-brand of the National Taxpayer Advocate Service and helped create award-winning training materials for enrolled agents. She created the measurement and reporting structures for all IRS work, and supported IRS staff in reporting campaign results to agency and Congressional leadership.
She has both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English Literature and is a capstone advisor in the Integrated Marketing Communications program at Georgetown University.
Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, M.D. is Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He oversees NIMHD’s annual budget to advance the science of minority health and health disparities research. NIMHD conducts and supports research programs to advance knowledge and understanding of health disparities, identify mechanisms to improve minority health and reduce health disparities, and develop effective interventions to reduce health disparities in community and clinical settings.
Since joining NIMHD in September 2015, Dr. Pérez-Stable has been cultivating the Institute’s position on the cutting edge of the science of minority health and health disparities. Through this effort, the Institute has produced a collection of resources that guide and facilitate the conduct of research to promote health equity. Prior to becoming NIMHD Director, Dr. Pérez-Stable was a professor of medicine and chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine, at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Pérez-Stable’s research interests have centered on improving the health of individuals from racial and ethnic minority communities through effective prevention interventions, understanding underlying causes of health disparities, and advancing patient-centered care for underserved populations.
