CHARLES CHIEPPO

Charles Chieppo is the principal of Chieppo Strategies LLC, a public policy writing and advocacy firm, and a senior fellow at Pioneer Institute, a Massachusetts public policy think tank.  Previously, he was policy director in Massachusetts’ Executive Office for Administration and Finance and directed the Shamie Center for Restructuring Government at Pioneer.  While in state government, Chieppo led the Romney administration’s successful effort to reform the Commonwealth’s public construction laws and helped develop and enact a new charter school funding formula.  He has also worked on a variety of state workforce issues including pension reform and easing state restrictions against privatization.  Chieppo was a member of the MBTA’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Forward Funding in 2000 and has written and commented extensively on MBTA issues.  His critical analysis of the proposed merger between the University of Massachusetts and Southern New England School of Law played a key role in the Board of Higher Education’s 2005 rejection of the proposal.  His columns appeared regularly in The Boston Herald and his work has appeared in a wide range of publications including The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Boston Business Journal, Providence Journal, Springfield Republican, Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Lowell Sun, Washington Times, Nashville Tennessean, Education Next and The Weekly Standard. Chieppo is a graduate of Boston University’s College of Communication and Vanderbilt University Law School.