Kenneth S. Apfel joined the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy as Professor of the Practice in 2006.  He directs the Management, Finance and Leadership Program at the School and is the academic director of the School’s Executive Master’s degree programs. His primary teaching and research interests are in public management and leadership and in social policy, with a particular focus on aging, health care, and retirement issues.

Apfel is an elected Fellow of both the National Academy of Public Administration and the National Academy of Social Insurance. From 2008 to 2010, Apfel served as the Chair of the Board at the National Academy of Social Insurance, and from 2009 to 2011 served as the Board Chair of the National Academy of Public Administration. He is also a longstanding Board member at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and a Senior Fellow at Results for Development in Washington, DC. He was recently appointed by Governor O'Malley to the Maryland Health Exchange Board to help implement health reform in Maryland.

Before joining the School of Public Policy, Apfel held the Sid Richardson Chair in Public Affairs at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, the University of Texas at Austin. Apfel has received several teaching awards since joining academia, including the Teacher of the Year Award from students at the University of Texas and the Excellence in Teaching Award from students at the University of Maryland.

  rior to his academic appointment, Apfel served as the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA) from 1997 until his term ended in January 2001. He was the first Senate-confirmed Commissioner of Social Security after SSA became an Independent Agency and Congress authorized the new Cabinet-level position.  As Commissioner, Apfel brought a lifetime of leadership and public service experience to a position that has frequently been described as one of the most complex and challenging in the federal government. 

Prior to SSA, Apfel was at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Executive Office of the President, where he served since 1995 as the Associate Director for Human Resource Programs.  His responsibilities included budget, policy and management review of all the human resource agencies of the Federal government.

Prior to his appointment at OMB, Apfel served as Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  He was nominated by President Clinton in March 1993 and was subsequently confirmed by the U.S. Senate.  In this capacity, Apfel served as the senior budget official and chief financial officer for HHS. 

Prior to his HHS appointment, Apfel worked for two decades in the areas of social and budget policy.  From 1989-1993, he served as legislative director to Senator Bill Bradley, overseeing the formulation and development of all aspects of congressional policy making.  During 1982-1989, he was Senator Bradley’s chief staff person for Federal social and budget policy, with a particular focus on the Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and welfare programs under the jurisdiction of the Senate Finance Committee.

From 1980-1982, Apfel served as committee staff for human resource programs for the Senate Budget Committee.  From 1978-1980, he served a Presidential Management Fellowship at the U. S. Department of Labor.  He was a college administrator from 1973-1976 at Newbury College in Massachusetts, coordinating a grant from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to provide outreach and remediation to veterans.

Apfel received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1970; a master’s degree in education, Northeastern University, 1973; and a master’s degree in public affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas, 1978. He is married to Caroline Hadley and has two grown sons, Derek and Dana.

 Luong Thanh Hai (cited publicpolicy.umd.edu)