National Academy of Public Administration Announces 2026 Class of Academy Fellows

On Friday, Sept. 25, the Academy Board approved an incoming class of 64 highly accomplished public servants to join the National Academy of Public Administration Fellowship. The incoming class of Fellows includes AI pioneers, statisticians, historians, educators, and public service practitioners from the local, state, and federal levels.

The 2026 Class joins more than 1,000 current Fellows, including former cabinet officers, members of Congress, governors, mayors, and state legislators, as well as prominent scholars, executives, nonprofit leaders, and more.

“The Academy helps leaders achieve a more effective, efficient, transparent, and accountable government. This group of incoming Fellows represent excellence in public service from around the country, and will help us achieve our mission,” said James-Christian Blockwood, President & CEO of the National Academy of Public Administration. “As our country's management challenges grow, the Academy continues to build the capacity to tackle those pressing issues. I look forward to working with all our new Fellows, and providing a positive vision of what we can achieve together in the years to come.”

Induction of the new Fellows will occur during the Academy’s 2026 National Conference, November 8-10 at the National Academy of Sciences building in Washington, DC.

Selection of new Fellows follows a rigorous review of the individual’s contributions to the fields of public administration and policy. A Nominating Committee, selected by the Academy’s Board Chair, reviews hundreds of applicants and makes its recommendations to the full Fellowship, which then votes on each nominee. The 2026 Nominating Committee was co-chaired by Fellows Kerry Neal and Jeanette Takamura.

The full list of incoming 2026 Academy Fellows is:

Whitney Afonso
Professor         
University of North Carolina
North Carolina

Michelle Amante
Senior Vice President of Government Programs 
Partnership for Public Service              
Virginia

Derrick Anderson
Vice President              
University of Utah       
Utah

Tanya Ange
County Administrator              
Washington County   
Oregon

Alyssa Ayres
Dean and Professor of History and International Affairs 
The George Washington University        
District of Columbia

Hillary Batjer Johnson
Principal & Strategic Advisor              
HBJ Global Solutions, LLC    
California

Melody Bell
Deputy Director           
Department of Energy             
Ohio

Vonda Bell
Chief Human Capital Officer & Director of Agency Services           
Farm Credit Administration  
Virginia

Gloria Billingsley
Department Chair      
Jackson State University        
Mississippi

Scott Blackburn
Senior Partner              
McKinsey & Company             
Maryland

Sharonne Bonardi
Executive Director      
Federation of Tax Administrators             
Maryland

Byron W. Brooks
County Administrator              
Orange County Government              
Florida

Lonnie Bunch
Secretary of the Smithsonian   
Smithsonian Institute             
Maryland

Kelli Burriesci
President & Founder 
KAB Consulting            
District of Columbia

Mark Bussow
Senior Advisor for Government Reform 
United States Congress         
Maryland

Holly Canevari
Vice President & General Manager           
General Dynamics Information Technology         
Virginia

Jerrell Coggburn
Department Chair      
North Carolina State University        
North Carolina

Margot Conrad
Senior Director 
The Volcker Alliance  
International

Dr. Ann Cotten
Executive Director      
University of Baltimore           
Maryland

Phil Dean
Research Director and Chief Economist       
University of Utah       
Utah

Charlene Dukes
Co-Principal Investigator & Former President
Prince George's Community College             
Maryland

William (Bill) Gates
Director, Professor of Practice            
ASU Mechanics of Democracy Laboratory          
Arizona

Christy Goldsmith Romero
Distinguished Visitor from Practice            
Georgetown University Law Center 
Virginia

Robert Gordon
Director            
University of Georgia 
Georgia

David Guston
Associate Vice Provost           
Arizona State University         
Arizona

Dustin Haisler
Chief AI Officer & U.S. General Manager        
Darwin AI         
Texas

Shahidul Hassan
Professor (Milton and Roslyn Wolf Chair)      
Ohio State University
Ohio

Deneen Hatmaker
Professor         
University of Connecticut      
Connecticut

Jason Jakubowski
President & CEO         
Connecticut Foodshare         
Connecticut

Jacqueline Jones
Deputy Assistant Secretary  
U.S. Department of the Interior              
Maryland

Andrew Kurtzman
Director            
US Government Accountability Office              
Virginia

Michael Land
City Manager  
City of Coppell             
Texas

Karen Lee
Founder and Executive Director            
FedsForward  
Virginia

Keon-Hyung Lee
School Director           
Florida State University          
Florida

Allison Lerner
Inspector General      
National Science Foundation     
Maryland

Doug Linkhart
President         
National Civic League             
Colorado

Amy Liu
Acting CEO and Board Member            
Equal Measure             
Virginia

Michele Mark Levine
Director, Technical Services 
Government Finance Officers Association
New York

Mercedes Márquez
President         
Marquez Community Strategy, Inc.  
California

D. Paul Monteiro Jr.
Vice President              
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)    
Maryland

James Moore III
Assistant Director (IPA)          
U.S. National Science Foundation     
Virginia

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell
Former Member of Congress
Executive Director/Program Director            
George Washington University        
Florida

Ghida Neukirch
City Manager  
City of Highland Park 
Illinois

Sasha O'Connell
Head of Security Strategy      
CoreWeave     
Maryland

Malcolm Oliver
Dean   
Thomas Edison State University        
New Jersey

Jaclyn Piatak
Professor         
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte    
North Carolina

Daniel Ragsdale
Advisor              
CyberStar        
Texas

William Resh
Professor and Chair        
Georgia State University        
California

Denice Ross
Former U.S. Chief Data Scientist
Director            
Federation of American Scientists         
Virginia

Alka Sapat
Director (Chair)           
Florida Atlantic University     
Florida

David Shive
Vice Chair, CIO 
US Executive Office of the President, US General Services Administration         
Maryland

Saba Siddiki, Ph.D.
Chapple Family Professor of Citizenship and Democracy
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University 
New York

Lauren Stocker
Former Deputy Associate Director            
Office of Management and Budget              
District of Columbia

Joseph Trainor
Dean   
University of Delaware            
Pennsylvania

Jeffrey Van Wagenen
County Executive Officer       
County of Riverside   
California

Ann Veneman
Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
Board member            
Sun World, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), the Gallo Center for the Arts, BEAM Circular, and Public Policy Institute of California         
California

Peter Warren
Senior Advisor              
U.S. House of Representatives          
Virginia

Chuck Wemple
Chief Operating Officer          
Houston-Galveston Area Council             
Texas

Kevin Werner
Executive Director      
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab       
Washington

Lee Worsley
Executive Director      
Central Pines Regional Council             
North Carolina

Carey Wright
State Superintendent              
MD State Department of Education        
Maryland

Hongtao Yi
Professor and Chair, 
Askew School of Public Administration and Policy, Florida State University Florida

Eric Zeemering
Professor and Department Head of the Department of Public Administration and Policy at the University of Georgia
Georgia

Teryn Zmuda
Executive Director      
Harvard University, Bloomberg Center for Cities 
Massachusetts

About the National Academy of Public Administration
Chartered by Congress to provide nonpartisan expert advice, the Academy is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization established in 1967 to assist government leaders in building more effective, efficient, accountable, and transparent organizations. www.napawash.org