PODCAST: Big Changes Mean Big Challenges for Shared Services and Government HR with Academy Fellow Brodi Fontenot and OPM's Rebecca Ayers Season 2 · Ep 39
0:00
1529
PODCAST: Big Changes Mean Big Challenges for Shared Services and Government HR with Academy Fellow Brodi Fontenot and OPM's Rebecca Ayers Season 2 · Ep 39
Podcast
On this episode, we welcome Lauren Larson, Alumna of the White House Office of Management, current Director for the Office of State Planning and Budgeting of Coloradon, and Academy Fellow, to discuss the process of distributing Federal relief funds, the impact of those funds on the state of Colorado, and new management innovations at the state level. Music Credits: Sea Breeze by Vlad Gluschenko | https://soundcloud.com/vgl9 Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com...
Now Playing
On this episode, we welcome Lauren Larson, Alumna of the White House Office of Management, current Director for the Office of State Planning and Budgeting of Coloradon, and Academy Fellow, to discuss the process of distributing Federal relief funds, the impact of those funds on the state of Colorado, and new management innovations at the state level.
Music Credits: Sea Breeze by Vlad Gluschenko | https://soundcloud.com/vgl9
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US
Episode Details
Listen On
Listen Now
Opens in your podcast app
Keep Listening
May 18, 2026
James-Christian Blockwood discusses U.S. Office of Personnel Management's modernization of federal HR and retirement IT systems with OPM’s Rebecca Ayers and Academy Fellow Brodi Fontenot. Building on a 2021 academy report urging congressional funding to modernize OPM systems, they describe the administration’s goal to build a merit-based workforce and modernize people management through the Federal HR 2.0 initiative. Key elements include moving agencies onto a mandatory single cor...
May 4, 2026
Host James-Christian Blockwood talks with Academy Fellow and McGeorge School of Law Professor Clark Kelso and American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Adam White about why public agencies struggle and what the executive branch does in response. They discuss how checks and balances slow action and make errors hard to undo, while polarization and congressional dysfunction push presidents toward unilateral action, creating separation-of-powers conflicts and court intervention. The conve...
April 20, 2026
Host James-Christian Blockwood interviews Teri Gullo, former CBO Director of Budget Analysis, and Karl Maschino, former GAO Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, about why federal budget work matters amid scrutiny of spending, workforce cuts, and “DOGE”-style reforms. They outline the normal OMB-agency-Congress budget timeline, emphasize GAO/CBO’s nonpartisan transparency and need to explain “the story behind the numbers,” discuss polarization blocking fiscal solutions as ne...