Preview 2011: What's Ahead for State Government
Sunday, Dec. 5.  Noon - 1:30 pm. 
Sponsored by Capitol Ideas magazine

Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center for the States, led a panel of governors and a former governor in a discussion about what is on the horizon for state governments and their leaders. Topics covered a wide range of issues including education, the economy, health reform, energy and transportation.

Participants included:  Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño, Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, and former Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer.

Capitol Ideas Today:  "Budget Cuts Still Reality for the States; Governors Sound Off on the Issue"   

Susan K. Urahn, managing director, Pew Center on the States

As managing director of the Pew Center on the States, Susan Urahn leads efforts at The Pew Charitable Trusts to help states identify and implement policies that are fiscally sound,  provide a return on investment to taxpayers and, more than ever, help our nation tackle its toughest challenges.

Urahn joined The Pew Charitable Trusts in 1994. After becoming director of Pew’s education program in 2000, her portfolio steadily expanded to include a wide range of state policy initiatives. In 2007, she was tapped to build and lead the Pew Center on the States. She came to Pew with more than a decade of experience in policy research and educational evaluation with the Minnesota House of Representatives and at the University of Minnesota.

Urahn has testified before the U.S. Congress and multiple state legislatures, and has been a featured speaker at conferences of the Public Policy Institute of California, National Conference of State Legislatures, National Conference of State Courts and the Philanthropy Roundtable.

She has appeared on major media outlets including PBS, CNN, Bloomberg News, C-SPAN and National Public Radio, and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post and other leading publications.