ABOUT BARRETT AND GREENE, INC.
THE B&G STORY.
Over the course of over 30 years, Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, principals of Barrett and Greene, Inc. have produced much-praised analysis, research and writing about state and local government management and policy. While the breadth of their public sector knowledge is wide, they often specialize in topics such as state and local performance management and measurement,, human resources, budgeting, social services, performance audits and more.
Other frequently covered topics include gubernatorial management and policy actions, including governor executive orders, procurement, contracting, civics education, and intergovernmental relations. In March 2024, their latest book, The Little Guide To Writing for Impact was published by Rowman & Littlefield.
One of Barrett and Greene’s most significant contributions was as founders of the Government Performance Project, which was funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and published in Governing Magazine. Through a rigorous combination of academic and journalistic approaches, it regularly evaluated the management capacity of all fifty states. and occasionally, the largest cities and counties in America.
In the past, Barrett and Greene have served in an advisory or contractual capacity to many organizations central to the study of states and localities. For example, they have:
Served as columnists and the authors of multiple features about government management for Governing Magazine. Two of these columns each month were also sent out in the form of an e-newsletter.
Provided additional support to Governing as senior fellows at the Governing Institute,
Worked as contractors, over a thirteen-year span, for the Pew Charitable Trusts, developing hundreds of new ideas and over a dozen major reports.
Written, for several years, a bi-monthly column for the Council of State Governments, where they served as senior fellows and made contributions to a number of projects including the research and writing for CSG’s ground-breaking report about civic education in America.
Provided a series of blog items for the Fels Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, where they were senior fellows for several years.
Peter Harkness, founder of Governing Magazine, has described the couple as "by far the most experienced journalists in the country covering public performance." Michael Jacobson, deputy director of performance and strategy at the King County Office of Performance Strategy and Budget commented that "Katherine and Rich have been covering state and local government management issues for so many years that there are few people they don't know, few issues they haven't covered and few concepts that are new to them." Leslie Scott, executive director of the National Association of State Personnel Executives, wrote that "their expertise and knowledge in government management is simply unmatched." And Chris Morrill, executive director of the Government Finance Officers Association, called Barrett and Greene "the dynamic duo of good government."
The couple, who are fellows at the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), are currently engaged as:
Executive Advisers, American Society for Public Administration
Columnists, senior advisors and co-chairs of the advisory board at Route Fifty.
Special Project Consultants at the Volcker Alliance
Visiting Fellows at the IBM Center for the Business of Government
Senior advisors at the Government Finance Research Center at the University of Illinois Chicago
Columnists for Government Finance Review
Editors, commentary session, International Journal of Public Administration
Advisors to the Government Finance Officers Association
Chair of the Center for Accountability and Performance at the American Society for Public Administration (Richard Greene)
Chair of the Frederickson Center for Social Equity Board at the American Society for Public Administration (Katherine Barrett)
Advisors to the National Association of State Personnel Executives.
Creators, writers and editors of a website dedicated to state and local government management and policy
Finally, they have made contributions of note to the National League of Cities, the Urban Institute, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board; the Association of Government
Accountants, the National Association of State Chief Administrators, and others, much of it pro-bono.
They have spoken at many events (both in person and virtually), including those sponsored by The Southeastern Conference for Public Administration, The National Academy of Public Administration; The National Association of State Chief Administrators; the American Society for Public Administration; GovExec, Route Fifty, the IBM Center for the Business of Government, the Federation of Tax Administrators, and the Volcker Alliance.
Barrett and Greene have received multiple awards for their work, including: the designation of finalist, on two occasions, for the National Magazine Awards; the Amos Tuck award from Dartmouth College, two awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism from the New York Society of CPAs, the Children's Choice award from the International Reading Association, the Washington Monthly Journalism award; the Folio Editorial Excellence award; and the Excellence in Health Care Reporting award presented by the National Institute of Health Care Management.
They have two grown children, Benjamin and Sandra.
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