Presidential Transitions - How to Start a New Government Right

Tuesday, December 6, 2016
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
(Pacific)
Speaker: 
  • Max Stier

This event is co-sponsored by the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and the Haas Center for Public Service.

Abstract:

The peaceful transfer of power from one president to the next is a hallmark of American democracy, but this hand-off is often rushed and chaotic, leaving new presidents unprepared to govern. Executing a successful presidential transition requires establishing policy goals, understanding agency issues, preparing to manage a 4 million person organization with a budget of almost $4 trillion, finding capable people for 4,000 politically appointed jobs and being ready to handle a foreign or domestic crisis on day one. The Partnership for Public Service has assisted this year’s presidential candidates by providing information and guidance on organizing a transition, sharing a management strategy to implement policies, working with the White House and agencies to ensure coordination with the new president’s team, and establishing a program to help political appointees to succeed.

Speaker Bio:

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Max Stier is the founding president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service. Under his leadership, the Partnership has been widely praised as a first-class nonprofit organization and thought leader on federal government management issues.

Max has worked previously in all three branches of the federal government. In 1982, he served on the personal staff of Congressman Jim Leach. Max clerked for Chief Judge James Oakes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1992 and clerked for Justice David Souter of the United States Supreme Court in 1994. Between these two positions, Max served as Special Litigation Counsel to Assistant Attorney General Anne Bingaman at the Department of Justice.

In 1995, Max joined the law firm of Williams & Connolly where he practiced primarily in the area of white collar defense. Max comes most recently from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, having served as the Deputy General Counsel for Litigation.

A graduate of Yale University and Stanford Law School, Max is a member of the National Academy of Public Administration, the Administrative Conference of the United States and the National Advisory Board for Public Service at Harvard College.