Michael Leachman
Vice President for State Fiscal Policy, CBPP

Michael Leachman is Vice President for State Fiscal Policy at CBPP. He directs the Center’s state policy research, overseeing analyses of state policy trends, how federal policy decisions affect states, and state policy choices that improve equity and boost opportunity.

Prior to joining the Center in 2009, Leachman was a policy analyst for nine years at the Oregon Center for Public Policy (OCPP), a member of the State Priorities Partnership. His work at OCPP included research on corporate income taxes, reserve funds, and spending limits.

Earlier in his career, Leachman worked as a community organizer in Chicago and, during graduate school, conducted a range of research projects in collaboration with community organizations.

Leachman holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Loyola University Chicago.

Adam Michel
Senior Policy Analyst, The Heritage Foundation

Adam N. Michel focuses on tax policy and the federal budget as a Senior Policy Analyst in the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget at The Heritage Foundation. His research focuses on how taxes impact the well-being and opportunity of Americans.  

Michel is published and quoted in outlets such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Politico, US News and World Report, and The Hill. He has also joined Fox News, CNN, Fox Business, and CNBC to discuss taxes and the economy. Prior to joining Heritage he was a Program Manager for the Spending and Budget Initiative at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where he worked on a broad range of topics relating to federal fiscal policy.

Michel received his PhD in economics from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA and a BA in politics from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA.

Cara Griffith
President and CEO, Tax Analysts

Cara provides strategic oversight for the direction of Tax Analysts. She has been instrumental in developing strategies to improve the Tax Notes suite of products and to aggressively pursue transparency in the administration of tax systems. Previously, Cara managed the editorial department, including the flagship daily news publications and weekly magazines. Griffith has written for a broad range of tax policy publications, including Tax Notes State, The Tax Adviser, The Hedge Fund Law Report, and The Hill. She regularly speaks at tax conferences and other events on tax issues, on a variety of technical tax issues as well as the need for transparency in tax administration.

Griffith has a BA in political science and a BA in international studies from the University of Evansville and a JD from the George Washington University Law School.