2008 Winners: Recognizing the Best in Public Service
The
National Public Service Awards are presented jointly by The American
Society for Public Administration and The National Academy of Public
Administration to recognize outstanding practitioners who have spent
most of their careers in public service. They have been awarded since
1983 to give greater recognition and support for individuals who have
"made a difference" in public administration for a sustained
period of time.
Theresa Parker
Theresa Parker has served five California governors with a sustained commitment to serving the public. Her two decades of experience in the state’s Department of Finance enabled her to save California taxpayers millions of dollars.
Parker’s leadership transformed the CalHFA (the state agency that finances below-market rate loans to create affordable rental housing and assists first-time home buyers) from a niche lender to a business that has increased its fund equity from approximately $520 million to $1.3 billion. More Californians are now able to live in decent rental housing and have been able to enter the housing market.
Parker also serves as secretary of the Board of Directors of the National Council of State Housing Agencies and is a member of the Fannie Mae National Housing Advisory Council. She and her Massachusetts counterpart negotiated a partnership with Fannie Mae for all housing finance agencies in the country. This resulted in a 60 percent reduction in the guarantee fees Fannie Mae charges, meaning there are more funds for housing opportunities for low-income citizens across the nation.
In 1991, Parker led the state’s efforts to realign mental health, social services, and health programs between the state and the counties. At that time, more than $1.7 billion of state program costs were transferred to counties and specific revenue-raising mechanisms were put in place to pay for these services. The public benefited through the more stable funding and the discretion counties have to meet local program needs. In 1997, she led the California welfare reform efforts.
Parker has developed other governmental leaders through her own work with staff and by leading the Department of Finance’s efforts to bring talent from outside of the civil service, at the master’s degree level and above, to increase the talent pool for state service. In 2004, the National Council of State Housing Agencies recognized the New Employment Orientation Program that Parker developed for CalHFA as an important innovation that increased employee retention.
Previous positions have included undersecretary of health and welfare for the state of California and chief deputy director for policy, Department of Finance. She is a Board Member of WIND, Hope for Homeless Teens in Sacramento, and received the 2003 Distinguished Public Official Award from the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California.
David Smith
As Maricopa County, Arizona administrator since 1994, David Smith has led efforts to move the county from dire financial straits and a reputation for ‘bad government’ to one that has high bond ratings and responds to the needs of its citizens. Maricopa County has gone from Governing Magazine calling it “a poster child for bad government” in 1994 to designating it as one of the two best-run county governments in the nation less than a decade later.
The Managing for Results program Smith put into practice enables the county to examine the impact of actions taken through its $2.2 billion budget and use the information in planning future activities. He believes it important to measure not only the work the county does, but also to focus county plans and budgets on service needs and programs designed to address them. This is essential in a county with 15,000 employees in 50 departments who serve 3.8 million residents.
Smith’s accomplishments, which he would be quick to say are part of a countywide effort, have taken place as the county had its biggest 10-year population increase in its history. This rapid growth has affected the cost-of-living and access to affordable housing. Lack of the latter has created a sharp rise in homelessness in the county. Smith was instrumental in creating the $25 million Human Services Campus (HSC) in downtown Phoenix. HSC is a public-private partnership to enhance collaboration among governments, faith-based and nonprofit organizations, and the business sector. The more integrated services are dealing with the chronic causes of homelessness in a compassionate manner and the effort benefits economic development in Phoenix’s urban core.
In 2001, Smith was Governing Magazine’s Public Official of the Year. Other awards include the Center City Star Award from the Phoenix Community Alliance and the Chapter Superior Service Award, in 2007, from the Arizona ASPA Chapter. In his free time, he serves on the Valley of the Sun United Way Board of Directors and other civic organizations.
Smith has also served in county and city manager positions in Yonkers, NY and Erie County in Buffalo. He is a member of ASPA and the National Association of County Administrators.
ots, community-based nonprofit organizations. Five small nonprofits made such progress that they were featured on Nightline, showing the South Bronx as a viable community with shops and housing in place of destruction.
