Dan Crippen (born March 18, 1952, in Canistota,

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

) was the executive director of the

National Governors Association The National Governors Association (NGA) is an American political organization founded in 1908. The association's members are the governors of the 55 states, territories and commonwealths. Members come to the association from across the politica ...

from 2011 to 2015. He now serves as member of the Board of Trustees to the Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc. and a member of the advisory board of the Peterson Center on Healthcare. He is a former director of the

Congressional Budget Office The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a federal agency within the legislative branch of the United States government that provides budget and economic information to Congress. Inspired by California's Legislative Analyst's Office that manages ...

and assistant to the president for

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

. Crippen served on

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel. He graduated from the

University of South Dakota The University of South Dakota (USD) is a public research university in Vermillion, South Dakota. Established by the Dakota Territory legislature in 1862, 27 years before the establishment of the state of South Dakota, USD is the flagship univ ...

(B.S. 1974) and

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

(M.A. 1976; Ph.D. 1981).

Reagan years

From 1981-1985 Crippen served as chief counsel and economic policy advisor for

Senate Minority Leader The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding ...

Howard Baker Howard Henry Baker Jr. (November 15, 1925 June 26, 2014) was an American politician and diplomat who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1967 to 1985. During his tenure, he rose to the rank of Senate Minority Leader and then ...

. When Baker became President Reagan's

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

in 1987, Crippen followed Baker to the White House as Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy from 1987-1988 and Domestic Policy Advisor and Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy from 1988-1989. Republicans hoped that Crippen would be a strong proponent of Reagan's appropriations bills and that he could mend relations with

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

. After Reagan left office in 1989, Crippen turned to the private sector, as a principal of Washington Counsel (1996-1999), a law and lobbying firm;

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

as an executive director; and The Duberstein Group, a

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

consulting firm, as founder and vice president.

Congressional Budget Office

He was Director of the

from 1999-02-01 to 2003.

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

leaders selected Crippen as a somewhat moderate candidate, drawing the ire of members of both parties, who sought a more ideological director. A 2003 article in ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' suggested that he may have lost his chance at reappointment for failing to support

dynamic scoring Dynamic scoring is a forecasting technique for government revenues, expenditures, and budget deficits that incorporates predictions about the behavior of people and organizations based on changes in fiscal policy, usually tax rates. Dynamic scoring ...

, a practice inspired by

supply-side economics Supply-side economics is a macroeconomic theory that postulates economic growth can be most effectively fostered by lowering taxes, decreasing regulation, and allowing free trade. According to supply-side economics, consumers will benefit fr ...

NASA and present day

On July 28, 2004 NASA Administrator

Sean O'Keefe Sean Charles O'Keefe (born January 27, 1956) is a university professor at Syracuse University Maxwell School, former chairman of Airbus Group, Inc., former Secretary of the Navy, former Administrator of NASA, and former chancellor of Louisiana S ...

selected him to serve on NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP). He was also a member of the Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group, which helped set policies to return the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

to flight after the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster. In February 2005, he was briefly mentioned as a possible NASA Administrator. Crippen still works in the private sector, largely focusing on healthcare issues, and does some public speaking. In a 2005 editorial in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', Crippen called for increased use of technology to reduce healthcare costs, altering the service structure by delegating more services to nurses and other hospital staff, and studying the subset of the Medicare population which uses the majority of the resources. Crippen serves on the board of directors of

Eclipsys Eclipsys Corporation was a publicly traded American company that provided hospitals and other healthcare organizations with electronic medical record, computerized physician order entry, and other technology, as well as revenue cycle management so ...

. In early 2011, Crippen was name
executive director of the National Governors Association
He served in that position until 2015. He also served on the board of directors of the

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) is a non-profit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C. that addresses federal budget and fiscal issues. It was founded in 1981 by former United States Representatives Robert Gia ...

. In 2012 Crippen was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Reagan years

Congressional Budget Office

NASA and present day

Notes or references

Further reading