Board of Directors

Anne Hacker, Ph.D.

President (Starting September 1, 2023)

Sr. Faculty, Public Policy & Administration

Walden University School of Public Policy & Administration – Michigan

Dr. Anne Hacker has been a faculty member with Walden University’s School of PPA since 2008. She has instructed MPA and PhD students, facilitates PhD Academic Residencies and Dissertation Intensive Retreats, and provides research mentorship for PhD Candidates. She is involved in curriculum development, new faculty development, and is part of the Anti-Racism Workgroup and Emotional Intelligence Workgroup. She has also served as adjunct faculty at Western Michigan University and as curriculum developer/SME for University of Roehampton, Liverpool, UK. Anne’s professional background (1978-2008) positions in nonprofit child welfare and human services in MI, IN, CO, and OH: CEO, County Juvenile Officer, Policy Advisor, Consultant, Community Advocate. She continues to volunteer on nonprofit boards in her community.

Anne has been a member of ASPA since grad school and was able to present at regional and national ASPA conferences. She truly enjoys the diversity of professional backgrounds, research interests, and countries our members represent. The combination of professional and academic interests is invigorating as is the interdisciplinary nature of public policy and public administration. This combination provides a unique opportunity for us to consider the complex intersections citizens and practitioners experience in their daily lives. In her view, public administrators stand at the nexus of private citizens, corporations, and the government. When we think about it, there is very little in life that has not been recorded, considered, formulated, implemented, or evaluated by a public administrator. We are now standing at the dawn of artificial intelligence making its mark in the practice and scholarship in public policy and public administration. That is exciting. She said that if she is able to play even a small role in encouraging the creation of a civil, just, equitable, and vibrant society, it will be worth the effort.

Marlon Brown, DPA

Vice President for Programs

Chad Rogers, MPA

Treasurer

David Winder, Ph.D.

Secretary

Dr. David Winder has served on the MiCAP Board for several years. He has been active in planning the use of facilities for MiCAP conferences held at the Eberhard Center of Grand Valley State University and at the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School in Lansing. David is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Valdosta State University, which is located in Georgia. He has also taught as a visiting professor at Michigan State University and at the University of Kentucky. His teaching duties included teaching off-campus MPA courses at Navy and Air Force bases in Georgia. His research area is the state executive branch of government, including governors, lieutenant governors, and state attorneys general. He has a Ph. D. degree in political science from Michigan State University and an MPA from Wayne State University.

Jason Wilkinson

Board Member At-Large

Chris Surfus, MBA, MPA, Ph.D. (they/them)

Past President (July 1, 2019 to August 31, 2023)

Dr. Chris R. Surfus served as a Faculty Specialist I of Public Administration at Western Michigan University’s School of Public Affairs and Administration in the 2022-23 academic year. Previously in the 2021-22 academic year, they were a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability in the NIDILRR federally funded Advanced Rehabilitation and Research Training (ARRT) program where they researched the intersection of disability and LGBTIQ+ research. They have a Ph.D. in Public Administration, an MBA, an MPA, a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership, and a BSBA. They have 13 years of experience in nonprofit leadership, including as the Founding President of The Surfus Foundation, the Chairperson of the ASPA LGBT Advocacy Alliance, and the President of ASPA MICAP, in addition to serving in consultative capacities for a number of nonprofit organizations in West Michigan and advising local governments on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

They have presented their research at over 25 academic conferences, including two IPPA and five ASPA conferences. They have 13 publications (four pending), including two blind peer-reviewed publications that are ranked as Scopus Q1 (Top 25 percent) for statistics and probability and rehabilitation and Scopus Q2 for public administration and mental health. They have been a peer-reviewer for the Policy Studies Journal, which is the third highest-ranked public administration journal out of 190 journals, ranked #20 of 1,345 journals for sociology and political science, and #27 of 376 journals for management, monitoring, policy and law. They are currently a peer-reviewer for the Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs and are on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, specializing in Autism Spectrum Disorders and Mental Health.

Dr. Surfus resigned from all ASPA duties, effective August 31, 2023.