We are pleased to announce the results of the 2020 ABFM election. Thad Calabrese, current ABFM Chair, thanks all ABFM members and the executive committee for their time and diligent efforts in developing a strong slate of candidates for the 2020 election. The newly elected officials are:
Vice Chair
Jerry Zhao, University of Minnesota
Jerry Zhao is the Gross Family Professor of Public & Nonprofit Management at the Hubert Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Jerry has been a prolific scholar in public budgeting and finance with two published books and more than 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Jerry brings well over a decade of active service in the ABFM community as a regular conference presenter, panel organizer, discussant and member of multiple award committees.
Executive Committee
Whitney Afonso, University of North Carolina
Whitney Afonso is an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Government. Whitney’s research focuses on state and local public finance with an emphasis on local sales taxes. Whitney won the Burkhead Award for best manuscript published in Public Budgeting & Finance in 2015 and the Curro Award for best student paper in 2010. This being her twelfth year attending ABFM, Whitney continues to serve as chair of the Curro Award committee and looks to keep promoting ABFM’s culture of nurturing junior members of the field.
Sarah Larson, University of Central Florida
Dr. Sarah Larson is an assistant professor of public budgeting and finance in the School of Public Administration at the University of Central Florida. Her research focuses on issues in taxation policy; specifically focused on sales, use, and property taxation as well as methodological advancements in public administration and policy. Sarah has been active in service both at UCF and to the broader community, working to create the Graduate Certificate in Public Budgeting and Finance at UCF.
Lang Kate Yang, George Washington University
Lang Kate Yang is an assistant professor at the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration at George Washington University. She conducts research on financial management and the municipal bond market. She is the recipient of the 2016 Curro Award, and having benefited tremendously from the professional support provided by the association, plans to work other committee members to continue building programs that support the professional development of graduate students and promote the impact of ABFM among practitioners.
ABFM also thanks the amazing nominees who were in contention for executive committee posts but missed out this year:
- Can Chen, Florida International University
- Benedict Jimenez, Georgia State University
- Rahul Pathak, City University of New York
“We had a superbly talented slate of candidates stand for election this year,” said 2020 ABFM Chair, ThadCalabrese. “ABFM is lucky to have so many members willing to serve, and this is what makes ABFM a collegial and special organization that continues to benefit all of us. We look forward to working with this talented and dedicated team.”