Aldrin Rafael Bonilla is the executive vice president of the Fund for the City of New York. Aldrin leads signature Fund initiatives such as the Sloan Public Service Awards, Sloan Awards for Excellence in Teaching Science and Math, and the NYC Community Planning Fellowship program. Aldrin also leverages his experience in civic engagement, innovation, technology, and training to expand and scale the Fund’s programming and impact in these focus areas citywide. 

Aldrin has a BA from Colgate University in international relations, as well as an MA in political science and MPA in public policy analysis from Binghamton University. He also holds advanced certificates from Harvard University’s Institutes of Higher Education, UPENN’s Wharton School of Business, and the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.

Kevin M. Bronner has served as public service professor and adjunct professor at the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the University at Albany since 1995. He has taught courses in governmental accounting, microeconomics, strategic planning, financial management, the operations of the capital markets, and on regulation issues. He is a public finance expert in the areas of governmental accounting and financial management.

From 1970 to 2003, he served on the staff of utility related agencies including the New York State Department of Public Service, the New York State Energy Office, and the New York State Consumer Protection Board. He participated in the areas of accounting and finance for electric and natural gas, steam, water, and telephone companies. He was also recognized as an expert quantifier and computed the largest dollar amount disallowances for utilities in the history of the New York State Public Service Commission. He worked on numerous financial, operational audits, and management audits, where he detected internal control violations and developed recommendations and an implementation plan to correct them. He was also instrumental in introducing competition for New York State utilities. In addition, he also participated in the first energy master plan for New York State in the 1970s. Bronner worked for several years at the State University of New York Research Foundation. He also served for eight years as a councilperson for the Town of Colonie. 

He has produced numerous public finance analyses that studied issues such as the New York State property tax cap, the Office of the New York State Comptroller’s Fiscal Stress Monitoring System, and accounting issues for other post-employment benefits. He has presented comments to the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) on numerous issues and he has testified before the GASB. He examines bond rating changes for local governments in New York State and has analyzed numerous audits conducted by the Office of the New York State Comptroller for local governments. He has also presented comments to Moody’s Investor’s Service concerning their bond rating methodology for state and local governments.

During 2022, he acted as a moderator for the Federal Reserve Panel at the University at Albany and he also participated in a training program for the members of the Zimbabwe Parliamentary staff during July.

Kevin holds a Bachelor’s degree in business administration-accounting, a Master’s degree in public finance, and a Ph.D. in public administration from the State University of New York at Albany.

Matthew J. Camp is founding director of government relations for Teachers College, Columbia University, where he cultivates relationships with city, state, and federal government officials, develops innovative education programs, and secures funding for the college. Matt created and runs the Advocacy Academy, a workshop series to build advocacy and political action skills that is open to the general public. Matt is an adjunct professor at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, where he teaches a capstone course on political action and advocacy.  

Camp’s research agenda includes field experiments on the mechanics and efficacy of lobbying and advocacy, and quantitative and qualitative analyses of higher education lobbying.

He holds a PhD in politics and education at Columbia University, a master’s of public policy from Rutgers University, and a BA with distinction from the University of Delaware.

Emily Carroll is an MPA candidate in the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College, CUNY. Her current research is focused on early career hiring patterns of post-PhD scholars in the humanities and social sciences. Additional research interests include both local-level and international fiscal analysis. Carroll works full time in the non-profit sector as manager of international programs for the American Council of Learned Societies, where she primarily works on grantmaking initiatives in African humanities, China studies, and Buddhist studies. Prior to this, Carroll worked at the Social Science Research Council and the American Association of University Women. She holds a BA in sociology and women’s studies from the University of Maryland, College Park. 

With over 40 years of education experience, Gene Chasin is the visionary catalyst of Community Catalyst Partners (CCP). Prior to founding CCP in 2020, Chasin worked in all arenas of education, serving young people and supporting organizations in all regions of the country. He spent 12 years overseeing the evolution and implementation of the Say Yes to Education community-wide strategies in cities, including Syracuse and Buffalo, New York, and Cleveland, Ohio.  

Before joining Say Yes, he was the director of the Institute for Urban School Improvement at the University of Connecticut and served as CEO of Accelerated Schools, one of the largest, longest-lived, most-researched school reform models in the country. Chasin has also served as a superintendent, assistant superintendent, principal, and public school teacher.

Meghan E. Cook is the program director for CTG UAlbany, a research institute at the University at Albany/SUNY, adjunct professor at Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, advisor to the NYS Local Government IT Directors Association, and founder of the NYS City CIO Workgroup. With 25 years of experience working on public sector innovation efforts, Cook is considered an expert in digital government transformation. Some of her projects include leading multi-sector, multi-agency, interdisciplinary teams to explore the legal, policy, and technical environments in voter registration, to develop a cybersecurity primer for local government leaders, to identify the legal, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and data considerations in advancing intelligent transportation, and developing the Community Officials Data Exchange to address problem property owners throughout the state. Cook presides in many advisory roles, serves as a reviewer for journals and conferences, has published numerous research and practice articles, and is a highly sought after speaker and facilitator, delivering leadership and strategy sessions for government leaders all over the world. 

Andrew Crosby is an assistant professor of instruction in the Master of Public Policy and Administration program at Northwestern University. His research interests include public, nonprofit, and health financial management and survey methodology. His scholarly work has appeared in Public Budgeting and Finance, the Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting, Financial Management, Tobacco Control, and other journals. Crosby is also the past president of the American Society for Public Administration New York Metropolitan Chapter. 

Stephen Eide is a senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor of City Journal. He researches social policy questions such as homelessness and mental illness. Examples of publications for which Eide has written include the Los Angeles Times, National Affairs, the New York Daily News, and the Wall Street Journal. He was previously a senior research associate at the Worcester Regional Research Bureau. Eide holds a BA from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and a PhD in political philosophy from Boston College. 

Peter Fiduccia examines the geography of inequality and explores how technology and public health serve as drivers of inequity. He leverages publicly available data and utilizes spatial methods to augment, synthesize, and present actionable results to stakeholders. His research pursues new approaches to understanding spatial relationships through examination of large, complex data systems. Part of what Fiduccia loves so much about his work is making connections among types of information that seem at first very different and hard to reconcile. Fiduccia analyzes and visualizes data connections to deliver actionable information to policy leaders whose decisions can impact the lives of millions of people. Researching these subjects has impressed upon him the power of spatial analyses to objectively present data concerning equality and representation. As organizations strive for more inclusive environments, it is the obligation of responsible researchers to promote tools which invite objective understanding of systemic inequalities while simultaneously inviting collaboration. 

Adam Howell is the marketing and communications manager for the Cornell Local Roads Program. Howell develops and distributes all marketing and external communications materials for the Cornell Local Roads Program and oversees maintaining the program’s print, web, and social media properties.  

In addition to writing extensively for CLRP on a variety of local government related subjects, Howell has written published articles for organizations such as the New York State Association of Towns (AOT) and the American Public Works Association (APWA). Howell currently serves as co-chair of the Communications Work Group for the National Local Technical Assistance Program Association (NLTAPA). 

Howell has a background in government relations and public affairs communications spanning over 14 years including working for the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR), the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), and the Illinois Governor’s Office. At Cornell, he has served as both a member and chair of the Cornell University Employee Assembly.  

Paige Kelly is interested in spatial inequality (community and rural/urban inequalities, poverty, and development issues), public policy, and social inequality and poverty. Her current research focuses on how local governments’ social policies affect inequality and poverty by race, rurality, and gender in the United States. She has published on rural-urban disparities in voting and local governments’ capacity, economic development programs, and collaboration/competition. She also has expertise in statistically modeling regional processes and a graduate minor in quantitative research methods. Kelly has strong connections to the Rural Sociological Society, having served on their council (2017-2019), as a research interest group chair (2017-present), and on multiple committees (Programming, Awards, Ethics, and Diversity). She received her BS in agronomy and community & environmental sociology from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and MS and PhD in rural sociology in the School of Environment and Natural Resources at The Ohio State University.

Michelle Kincaid is a senior associate in the Maxwell X Lab. Kincaid is involved in the development, implementation, and analysis of projects across the lab’s portfolio. Her responsibilities also include seeking out presentation opportunities for the lab at conferences. Kincaid is also lead mentor and supervisor for the lab’s team of student research assistants. Prior to joining the X Lab, Kincaid worked with a number of nonprofits in the Syracuse area, including the Gifford Foundation, CNY Fair Housing, and A Tiny Home for Good. Her work used surveys and data analysis to evaluate programming and advance fundraising strategies. Kincaid’s development experience also extends overseas with NGOs in Peru and Chile. She earned her BA in international relations and citizenship and civic engagement with a minor in policy studies at Syracuse University in 2018.   

Mark F. LaVigne is the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) deputy director. He works with the association’s board and staff to support NYSAC’s mission to represent, advocate for, and serve New York’s county officials. Previously, LaVigne worked at the Center for Technology of Government, the New York State Assembly, and was a congressional aid and newspaper reporter early in his career. He has a PhD in communication from the University at Albany and holds a bachelor’s degree in English from LeMoyne College.

Minch Lewis is an adjunct professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School. For the past 17 years he has taught a graduate course, “Metropolitan Government and Politics.” His teaching and research focus on urban issues: poverty, race, housing, health, economic development, and financial management. He served as the elected city auditor in Syracuse, NY, for 9 years. He has developed financial management systems for the affordable housing industry. He earned his master’s degree in public administration at the Maxwell School and a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Notre Dame. He is a Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM). 

Commissioner Jack Manning started his first term as county commissioner in Beaver County, PA in January of 2020. Prior to being elected, Manning was owner and principal of Pinebrook Cottage Consulting (PCC), which he started after an over 35-year career in the petrochemical industry. 

Manning is a former two-term trustee of the Community College of Beaver County, and he remains an active and passionate participant in the Inclusion, Diversity and Awareness Council (IDAC) of Beaver County.  

Commissioner Manning’s official duties also include serving as a member of several boards, including chair of the Prison Board, the Beaver County Corporation for Economic Development Board, the Southwest Planning Commission, the Southwest Corner Workforce Development Board, the Beaver County Conservation District Board, the Board of Elections, the County Employee Retirement Fund Pension Board, the Board of Assessment Appeals, and is a member of the County Commissioner’s Association of Pennsylvania (CCAP) Economic Development Committee. 

Michael Marciano is a research associate professor and the associate director for research in the College of Arts and Sciences Forensic and National Security Sciences Institute at Syracuse University. He holds a master’s degree in forensic molecular biology and a PhD in structural biology, biochemistry and biophysics. His research centers on applied molecular biology and genetics with an emphasis on genetic identity, DNA-based geolocation, and computational methods to interpret complex genetic data. He was previously employed as a forensic DNA analyst at Onondaga County Center for Forensic Sciences. He later joined SRC Inc., a non-profit defense contractor, where he focused on research and development of DNA-based applications for tagging, tracking and locating targets. He currently teaches Forensic DNA Analysis and Forensic Analysis of Biological Evidence. Dr. Marciano currently sits on the National Institute of Standards and Technology Organization of Scientific Committees – Human Forensic Biology Subcommittee and the New York State Commission on Forensic Sciences. 

David Massaro has been with the City of Schenectady Fire Department for 22 years. He currently serves as deputy chief in charge of Special Operations. He has served as a line officer for multiple pieces of apparatus and spent six years as the captain in charge of Emergency Medical Operations. In addition to being an online paramedic for the last 21 years, he holds instructor certifications in AHA BLS, ACLS and PALS. He was twice selected for the Harriet C. Weber EMS Leadership award. He holds associate degrees in emergency medicine, emergency management, and fire protection technology, and will be completing another in fire science in the fall of 2022.

Terri Matthews is director of Town+Gown, an open platform citywide university-community collaboration program, based at the New York City Department of Design and Construction that brings academics and practitioners together to create knowledge in the built environment. A graduate of Boston College, Boston College Law School, and New York University Wagner Graduate School for Public Service, and currently a PhD candidate at New York University Tandon School of Engineering, Matthews has worked in both the public and private sectors. In addition to her public finance law experience at several national bond firms, Matthews’ governmental experience at New York City spans both the legislative and executive branches. Her areas of focus have included public budgeting, public finance, performance measurement, public procurement, and built environment public policy. She is admitted to practice in Massachusetts and New York.

Rebecca Natow is an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at Hofstra University and a fellow at the Rockefeller Institute of Government. Natow is an expert on higher education policy and has written extensively about the federal higher education rulemaking process in the US Department of Education. She has also researched and written about performance-based funding policies for higher education, technology use in postsecondary developmental education, and research utilization in the creation of federal higher education regulations. Her most recent book, Reexamining the Federal Role in Higher Education: Politics and Policymaking in the Postsecondary Sector, was published by Teachers College Press earlier this year. Natow received her EdD, EdM, and MA in higher and postsecondary education from Teachers College, Columbia University and her JD from Georgetown University Law Center.

Rahul Pathak is an assistant professor of public budgeting and financial management in the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at the Baruch College, City University of New York (CUNY). He previously worked at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University where he also received a PhD in public policy. His primary research interests lie at the intersection of public finance and social policy, with a particular focus on strengthening the functioning of subnational governments. He examines related issues in the domestic as well as international contexts. His research has appeared in journals such as Public Administration Review, Regional Science and Urban Economics, and State Tax Notes. His recent research on the fiscal impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic has been published in the Journal of Public Budgeting Accounting and Financial Management and the Municipal Finance Journal.

Mark Reiner, director of resilient infrastructure at Jacobs, has over 20 years of experience as a professional engineer and geologist, with an emphasis on developing resilient infrastructure paradigms to protect against acute and chronic hazards for the developed and developing nation contexts. The common denominator of his work has been to focus on the connection of reliable access to basic infrastructure services as foundational to viable communities and installations. Mark’s career spans design and construction management of dams along the Colorado Front Range to the infrastructure sustainability assessment of Kigali, Rwanda, and sustainable infrastructure research in India.

April M. Roggio coordinates a multi-institution research team focused on food system localization. Her recent work addresses issues of municipal interest in foodshed localization, participatory guarantee systems, collaborative governance, agricultural taxation policy, and cannabis legalization in New York State. She earned an MA in public policy and a PhD in public administration from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs at the University at Albany, exploring the intersection of judgment and decision sciences using system dynamics modeling. She is a mother, activist, and scholar pursuing strategies to attain a more food-secure, regenerative, and prosperous world.

Mildred E. Warner is a professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning and the Department of Global Development at Cornell University where her work focuses on local government service delivery, economic development, environmental sustainability, age-friendly planning and public health. Warner’s research explores the impact of privatization and devolution on local government and the role of human services as social infrastructure for economic development. Her research explores the challenges of privatization, preemption and fiscal decentralization on local governments. Her work on age-friendly planning explores new community development models for addressing human services which link the needs of children and seniors to promote public health. Her work on economic development also focuses on the linkages to environmental sustainability action. She has a PhD in development sociology, a master’s in agricultural economics from Cornell University and a BA in history from Oberlin College. For more information see www.mildredwarner.org.

Kaitlin Stack Whitney is an assistant professor of science, technology and society at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Part of her research portfolio focuses on how science informs state and local environmental policy, in topics such as pollinator protection and food waste. She previously worked for the US Environmental Protection Agency in the Office of Pesticide Programs and Office of International and Tribal Affairs.

Corri Zoli is director of sponsored research and development for International Studies Association (ISA) and senior research scholar in global affairs and international security at the University of Connecticut. Previously, Zoli was director of research and associate teaching professor for the Institute of Security, Policy and Law (SPL/INSCT), a joint advanced research center shared between the College of Law and the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Zoli is also an affiliated faculty member at the Forensic and National Security Sciences Institute (FNSSI) at Syracuse University’s College of Arts & Sciences, co-investigator (Co-I) for the SU Intelligence Community Center of Excellence (ICCAE), and a member of the Academic Advisory Board for the Warrior-Scholar’s Program. 

Zoli’s research focuses on contemporary problems of warfare and changing national and international security policies, with attention to the role of culture in changing global conflict norms. A strong component of Zoli’s research involves US military veterans, the pressures on the modern force structure, and the challenges of gray warfare for military personnel. Zoli teaches seminars on national security law and policy, law and war, South Asian and Middle East security, terrorism, humanitarian law, and forced migration. Zoli’s research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, and Google, and her work has been published in Foreign Policy, Harvard National Security Journal, the Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, among other venues. Zoli has developed many interdisciplinary research initiatives with partners in and beyond SU, including: the Institute for Veterans & Military Families (IVMF), United States Institute of Peace (USIP), New America Foundation (NAF), International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences (ISISC), the US Department of State.