Ray Scheppach is the former executive director of the National Governors Association (NGA), serving from January 1983 – January 2011.

As such, he is a specialist on the role of the states in the formulation and implementation of public policy, as well as on the full range of public policies (education, economic development, housing, job training, health and social services, transportation, and environmental protection) that are at least in part the responsibility of the states.

He is now the Professor of the Practice of Public Policy for the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, where he teaches courses on the role of the states in public policy and on government budgeting.

Before joining the National Governors Association, Scheppach was first assistant director, and then deputy director, of the Congressional Budget Office, which gave him an understanding of a comparably broad range of issues at the federal level.  He has authored or co-authored four books on economics, including the 1984 book New Directions in Economic Policy: An Agenda for the 1980s.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Maine, and holds a PhD in economics from the University of Connecticut.