ASPA Staff

Bill Shields has served as ASPA’s Executive Director and CEO since January 2014. During his tenure, he has recommitted the Society to its core mission of advancing excellence in public service and made significant inroads in partnering with like-minded organizations dedicated to the public good. His leadership has produced:

- Seven consecutive years of net income and clean audits, endowment growth of more than 100 percent, record setting royalties for the leading professional journal in public service, and exponential growth in student and new professional membership

- An innovative institutional membership program that has yielded thousands of new members spanning the academic and practitioner communities, including public servants at the city and county levels in California, Florida and Texas

- The development and execution of a multi-faceted e-learning program that has generated 200-plus hours of high-quality curated content on leading and emerging issues of public administration and policy

- Deeply respected national conferences averaging 1,500 attendees and 150 sessions annually, featuring such high-profile keynote speakers as then-former Vice President Joe Biden, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Applebaum, Congressman John Lewis, former CIA Director Leon Panetta and leading BBC broadcaster Jeremy Vine

- Strategic partnerships with organizations around the globe, where he has promoted the Society’s brand and advanced its mission as a speaker and lecturer to public service audiences in Australia, China, Denmark, France, India, Indonesia and the United Kingdom (House of Lords)

Shields brings to his position more than two decades of non-profit executive and management experience. He served as Vice President of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the nation's leading public policy organization dedicated to ensuring that people with the lowest incomes have affordable and decent homes. For more than a decade, he held senior management positions at the National Academy of Public Administration, a congressionally chartered organization that assists government leaders in building more accountable organizations. As Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Communications, Shields worked extensively with the Academy’s elected Fellows, the nation’s top leaders in the practice and study of public administration. He was elected an Academy Fellow in 2016.

Shields also served as Director at the Chief Executives Organization, a nonprofit organization of 2,000 chief executives around the world, and in the Executive Office of the Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island. He earned his MA in government and BA in journalism from American University, where he has been an Adjunct Professor since 2000. There, he earned the School of Public Affairs’ Award for Outstanding Teaching in an Adjunct Position. A member of the editorial boards of Public Money and Management and the International Journal of Civil Service Reform and Practice, Shields lives with his wife and daughter in Washington, DC.

Karen E. T. Garrett began working for the American Society for Public Administration, the largest and most prominent professional association for public administration, in October 2015, where she serves as the Chief of Communications, Marketing and Membership. She has almost 20 years of association management expertise, previously serving as Senior Director of Marketing for the Direct Selling Association. She is responsible for all of ASPA’s communications and marketing activities, membership recruitment/retention, Chapters and Sections relations and website administration, as well as serving as the managing editor of PA TIMES magazine and PA Times Online.

Garrett’s career began at the Direct Selling Association in 2001, where she served in administrative capacities before being promoted to a variety of management roles within the communications department. She has further developed her expertise at ASPA, serving more than 10,000 public servants through its mission of advancing excellence in public service. Specific accomplishments have included expanding ASPA’s public voice to a broader range of constituents through a range of marketing efforts; professionalizing membership outreach efforts and engaging with constituencies to promote ASPA as a valued society of choice; amplifying its online presence through a polished website and active social media engagement; and more.

Garrett received her BA from American University in 2001 and her CAE from ASAE: The Learning Center in 2019.

John F. Higgins began contributing feature articles to ASPA publications in 2025. A Cambridge, Massachusetts-based writer, researcher and digital editor, Higgins has served as the legacy consultant to Sir Elton John and feature writer and co-editor for EltonJohn.com since 2006. His broader career spans supporting roles at nonprofits and the Harvard Business School, as well as freelance work as a podcast editor, photo retoucher/restorer and litigation graphics consultant.

As Conference Manager, Amy is primarily responsible for the management, coordination, and logistical aspects of the annual conference education sessions, and works as the liaison with the program committee in the selection of conference sessions. She also works with the ASPA Director of Professional Development in providing general conference support, and works with the development and execution of ASPA’s webinar sessions. She previously worked as a consultant to ASPA for nine years.

Before coming to ASPA, she worked as the Director of Meetings and Education with the American Staffing Association. She has worked for and with various trade and non-profit associations, as well as state government projects. She brings seventeen years of conference, education and nonprofit experience to ASPA.

Amy has a B.B.A. degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Portland. She is a fitness instructor and is active with various community organizations including Family Promise and Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

Katie Jahnz joined the American Society of Public Administration in 2026 as the Public Service Operations Associate. She supports ASPA's governance, membership and conference operations while working closely with the Executive Director/CEO and staff to advance the Society's priorities.

Jahnz also serves as a writer and editor for PA TIMES, ASPA’s flagship publication, where she edits articles, writes feature stories and helps shape the magazine's editorial content. In addition, she leads initiatives to strengthen engagement with ASPA's students and new professional members and supports communications and projects across the organization, including logistical and programmatic aspects of its annual conference.

She earned her BA in journalism, with minors in justice and law and women, gender and sexuality studies, from American University in Washington, D.C.

Thomas "TJ" Riggs is the Leadership & Engagement Associate at ASPA, where he supports national member engagement initiatives, student and early-career programming, and leadership development efforts, including the Founders' Fellows program. A Truman Scholar and summa cum laude graduate of Samford University, TJ holds degrees in Law, Politics & Society and Spanish. His work focuses on strengthening the public service pipeline, supporting future public administrators, and advancing equity-centered governance.

Caitlyn Shrewsbury joined the American Society of Public Administration in 2025 as the Program and Content Specialist, where she focuses on ASPA’s international partnerships and symposia, e-learning programs and conference support. Previously, she worked at the European Parliament Liaison Office in Washington, D.C., USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy. She also has consulted for LGBTQ+ non-governmental organizations in Poland, Romania and Hungary as part of her graduate coursework. With her background in both the public and nonprofit sector, Shrewsbury brings a broad range of experience to her work at ASPA. She received her MA in international affairs and democracy studies from George Washington University and her BA from Stephen F. Austin State University in her hometown of Nacogdoches, Texas.