Katherine Willoughby, Author

Broadcast Date: 
Monday, February 8, 2021 - 09:00

How Localities Continually Adapt Enterprise Strategies to Manage Natural Disasters

The authors of this report delve into city-level surveys of hundreds of communities, conducted by the International City/County Managers Association, to learn firsthand what challenges face local leaders and how they prepare in advance to blunt the effects of natural disasters.  They interview dozens of local leaders for their advice and insights and then used these insights to develop a framework that can guide local leaders as they strategize ways to minimize the effects of natural disasters on their communities and economies in the future.

Katherine Willoughby

Dr. Willoughby has spent the last 30 years teaching, conducting research and consulting regarding public management, budgeting and finance. She has internationally recognized expertise of the legal foundations, use and effects of performance budgeting on U.S. state management, budgets and finances. Her 2001 book coauthored with Dr. Kurt Thurmaier (Northern Illinois University) examines the relationship between budgeting and policy development on the part of analysts employed in executive budget offices in 11 U.S. state governments in the South and Midwest.

Katherine Willoughby

Dr. Katherine Willoughby seeks to promote improved budgeting and financial management practices in the public sector. Her primary focus of research is on state government budgetary and fiscal management. Her book, Policy and Politics in State Budgeting, coauthored with Dr. Kurt Thurmaier, examines the relationship between budgeting and policy development as seen through the eyes of analysts employed in executive budget offices in 11 American state governments in the South and Midwest.

Staying the Course: The Use of Performance Measurement in State Governments

This report provides an overview of performance management at the state level, and how state budgeting systems have evolved to now incorporate measurement of program activities and results. It describes why performance initiatives continue to be touted by both legislatures and central management in the states. The report describes which components of performance measurement and performance-related initiatives have been most useful in the states. The authors also identify key trends.

Margaret Hughes and Robert T. Golembiewski Professor of Public Administration and Professor of Public Administration and Policy
University of Georgia
Baldwin 201B
Athens, GA 30602
United States
706-583-0553

Dr. Willoughby has spent the last 30 years teaching, conducting research and consulting regarding public management, budgeting and finance. She has internationally recognized expertise of the legal foundations, use and effects of performance budgeting on U.S. state management, budgets and finances. Her 2001 book coauthored with Dr. Kurt Thurmaier (Northern Illinois University) examines the relationship between budgeting and policy development on the part of analysts employed in executive budget offices in 11 U.S. state governments in the South and Midwest. She served as grading team leader of budget and financial management for two iterations of the Government Performance Project, a national research effort funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts that examined management in the 50 American states. Her 2014 book co-edited with Dr. Marilyn Rubin (CUNY) assesses revenues, expenditures and debt management in state governments. Her sole authored 2014 book, Public Budgeting in Context, examines budgeting at every level of government in the United States, with comparison to such practices in six other countries around the world. Dr. Willoughby has taught graduate courses in public management, budgeting and finance, financial management, and research methods and has taught undergraduate, graduate and doctoral courses in public budgeting and finance. Dr. Willoughby has an extensive background in consulting with and training of numerous management, budget, finance and other government officials from around the globe regarding budgeting and management best practices.