Mr. Baxandall oversees policy and
strategy development for MASSPIRG and other state PIRGs’ tax and budget campaigns
throughout the United States, including campaigns for public transit. He comes
to the PIRGs from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of
Government where he assisted in directing the Taubman Center for
State and Local Government as well as the Rappaport Institute for
Greater Boston. In that capacity he assisted the city of Somerville,
Massachusetts with performance management and best-practice
budgeting, as well as served as a technical advisor for the
Massachusetts’ Metropolitan Mayors’ Coalition report on reforming
local aid, which was credited for helping to restore local aid
funding within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Before coming to
the Kennedy School, Baxandall worked for the research department of
the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, editing their flagship
publication, Regional Review. He also taught political economy for
several years at Harvard’s undergraduate honors program in Social
Studies, where he won six teaching awards. In 1990-91, he taught
economics and organizational behavior at the University of Budapest.
In Hungary, Baxandall also worked with an American campaign
consulting firm to observe focus groups, formulate survey questions,
and prepare national strategy for a major political party in
Parliament.
Education:
Ph.D., Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
2000, B.A., Economics and College of Social Studies, Wesleyan
University, 1989
