APPLETON, WIS. — Scot Faulkner, the country’s first chief administrative officer of the U.S. House of Representatives and an advocate of government reform, discusses the failed opportunities of lawmakers to run a more efficient, less corrupt federal government in an address at Lawrence University.
A 1975 Lawrence graduate, Faulkner presents “Naked Emperors — How Republicans and Democrats Have Lost Their Minds and Their Way” Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 11:10 a.m. in Lawrence’s Science Hall, Room 102.
Faulkner’s presentation will be based on his 2008 book “Naked Emperors: The Failure of the Republican Revolution,” a first-hand account of how ego-driven, bureaucratic self-interests are served at the expense of national interests.
In the wake of the historic 1994 elections that brought a new Republican majority to the Capitol, Faulkner was offered a job as the institution’s first chief administrative officer by House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who told Faulkner, “The days of special favors are over.”
As a proponent of operating the government “as a business,” Faulkner designed and led the most significant management reforms in the history of Congress, earning praise from Harvard University and the Ford Foundation, which cited his efforts in a list of the top 100 innovations in American government.
But ultimately, as Faulkner chronicles in his memoir, the promise of fundamental change went unrealized and the corrupt ways of the Democrats were replaced with new forms of Republican corruption.
Prior to his chief administrative officer duties, Faulkner held executive positions at the Federal Aviation Administration, the General Services Administration and the Peace Corps during the Reagan Administration. He is currently a managing partner for the West Virginia-based firm Phoenix Consulting Associates, advising international corporations on strategic change and leadership.
In addition to earning a bachelor’s degree in government from Lawrence, Faulkner studied at the London School of Economics and at Georgetown University. He has served as adjunct faculty at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and lectured at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
