A New Era of Civic Leadership


The National Academy of Public Administration and the Bridge Alliance have joined together to launch a landmark initiative dedicated to strengthening American democracy and public service. This partnership brings together the Academy’s distinguished Fellows and the Bridge Alliance’s dynamic, cross-sector network to build a leadership infrastructure for the future of our republic.


Collaboration for Civic Renewal


At its core, this partnership is about reimagining how leadership and collaboration can drive meaningful change in American democracy and public service. Rather than relying on top-down models, the initiative fosters distributed expertise, collaborative strategy, and public-facing storytelling. Fellows will serve as conveners, connectors, and catalysts—amplifying insights from the field, shaping democratic narratives, and stewarding resilience through shared leadership.


Together, the Academy and the Bridge Alliance are committed to integrating institutional wisdom with civic imagination, creating a vibrant ecosystem for democracy reform and renewal.


Fellows’ Challenge—Solutions for Advancing American Democracy and Public Service


This initiative focuses on six core sectors essential to a thriving democratic republic:


  • Public Service Leadership and Civil Service Reform: Fellows will examine the systems, rules, and practices that govern the federal workforce, identifying opportunities to modernize for greater agility and impact. This includes strategies to recruit, develop, and sustain the next generation of public leaders equipped to navigate complexity and deliver results.
  • Vince Micone will create “Forging the Next 250: Building America’s Next Public Service Pipeline.” This project will explore how the federal government can build a modern, diverse, and resilient talent pipeline that prepares the next generation of public servants to lead the nation into its next 250 years.


  • Voting and Elections: Trust in our electoral processes is foundational to democratic legitimacy. Fellows will analyze all components of voting and election administration—from registration to ballot security—offering actionable recommendations to ensure impartiality, transparency, and public trust. This includes ethics standards for senior election officials and safeguards against political interference.
  • Shaniqua Williams will create “The Hidden Infrastructure of Democracy: Professionalizing and Diversifying Election Staff.” This project will focus on strengthening impartiality, transparency, and trust in U.S. election administration by developing an evidence-based framework for training and professionalizing mid-level election staff and expanding pathways that diversify the election workforce.


  • Bridging & Dialogue: In an era of division, this sector explores the art and practice of bridging differences. Fellows will elevate efforts that foster mutual understanding, respectful dialogue, and shared purpose across ideological, cultural, and generational lines. Constructive engagement is not just possible—it is essential to democratic renewal.
  • Kristina Becvar will create “From Dialogue to Direction: Rebuilding Shared Civic Purpose in a Fragmented Democracy.” This project seeks to address an increasingly consequential challenge in the bridging community: the lack of shared purpose, coordination, and narrative coherence among those working to strengthen American democracy itself.


  • Electoral Systems Reform: Nonpartisan reforms that ensure robust competition and fair representation are vital to a functional government accountable to the people. Fellows will examine innovations such as ranked-choice voting, gerrymandering reform, campaign finance transparency, and independent voter rights—co-creating the policies and movements that reshape how power is held and shared.
  • Beth Hladick will create “The 2026 Primary Problem: Diagnosing the Divide.” The project will use the 2026 midterms to shift the national narrative from "horse race" coverage to structural analysis and rigorously document how partisan primaries disenfranchise voters and fuel polarization.


  • Trustworthy Information Leads to Trust in Government: Democracy depends not only on what we know, but on how we know it. Fellows in this sector will focus on restoring a shared civic reality through rigorous measurement and reliable reporting—empowering citizens to interpret trends, evaluate outcomes, and advocate for evidence-based change.
  • Joel Gurin will create “Regaining Public Trust in Federal Data and Information.” The project will explore current obstacles to public trust in data, with a focus on public federal data, and recommend remedies.


  • Pluralism: America’s strength lies in its diversity—and in our capacity to navigate it with empathy and imagination. Fellows will explore how pluralism is practiced, challenged, and reimagined across communities and institutions, amplifying stories of coexistence, conflict, and cultural evolution to shape a republic where every voice matters and every story counts.
  • Kimberly Walton and Tamara L. Miller will create “Pluralism as a Civic Operating System: Building a Democracy of Dignity.” The project seeks to reframe pluralism as a practical system for navigating demographic, cultural, and increasingly economic and geographic divides.


Through research, dialogue, and collaboration, this initiative seeks to generate clear, executable action plans that modernize public service, strengthen electoral integrity, foster constructive engagement, and celebrate the diversity that defines America. The work of selected Fellows will be featured in national campaigns and publications, helping to restore public trust and inspire the next generation of civic leaders.


By connecting expertise, fostering innovation, and celebrating public service this partnership is more than an initiative:

It’s a call to action to help shape the future of American Democracy.


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Meet the Fellows

Kristina Becvar consults with organizations working to strengthen democratic governance and civic trust. She advises clients across the democracy ecosystem, including bridging and dialogue, participatory practices, nonpartisan reform, civic engagement and education, governance, and trusted information, bringing expertise in strategy, communications, and research. Previously, she served as Executive Director of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund and co-publisher of The Fulcrum, helping align diverse pro-democracy stakeholders and communicate for collective impact. Kristina holds an M.S. in Data Analytics and a B.A. in Business from UMass Amherst.

Joel Gurin is the President and Founder of the Center for Open Data Enterprise (CODE) and author of the book Open Data Now. Before launching CODE in January 2015 he served as Chair of the White House Task Force on Smart Disclosure, which studied how open government data can improve consumer markets, and as Chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. For more than a decade he was Editorial Director and then Executive Vice President of Consumer Reports, where he directed the launch and development of ConsumerReports.org, which was then the world’s largest paid-subscription information-based website. He is a graduate of Harvard University with an A.B. in Biochemical Sciences, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa. 

Beth Hladick is the Policy Director at Unite America, where she oversees original and commissioned research that diagnoses the problems with party primaries and evaluates the effectiveness of reform solutions. In addition to her research portfolio, Beth leads outreach efforts to educate stakeholders on elections and reform. She brings a nonpartisan perspective shaped by her experience at the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Oregon State Legislature, and the U.S. Senate. Beth also served as a producer on the 2024 film Majority Rules, which explores how election systems shape representation and governing incentives. Born and raised in rural Alaska, she holds a bachelor’s degree in politics from Willamette University. 

Vince Micone is a Professor of Practice in the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University, where he focuses on public management, governance, and leadership. A nationally recognized nonpartisan executive, he previously served as Acting Secretary of Labor and in senior leadership roles across five Cabinet departments, overseeing large-scale operations, workforce systems, and governance reform. Vince is an elected Fellow and Board Member of the National Academy of Public Administration and has led major civic and philanthropic initiatives, including chairing the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area, which raised more than $800 million for nonprofit organizations. His work bridges government, academia, and civil society to strengthen democratic institutions and public service. 

Tamara L. Miller, Esq. is a retired Senior Executive with the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Health & Human Services, a civil rights trial attorney, and a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with over four decades of leadership in law, policy, and public service. She is co‑founder of SynergyUSA and a partner at MillerMasciola, Attorneys At Law, where she has successfully represented federal and private‑sector employees in high‑stakes civil rights, whistleblower, and due process matters. Miller previously served as Director of Civil Rights at the Transportation Security Administration and as Deputy Director for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services, leading national enforcement, compliance, and workforce equal opportunity initiatives. Her career bridges democratic governance, civil rights enforcement, and institutional accountability, with a focus on dignity, access, and equal justice. 

Kimberly Walton, Esq. is a National Academy of Public Administration Fellow, attorney, and the Founder & CEO of SynergyUSA, a consulting firm focused on strengthening public institutions through inclusive leadership, governance, and workforce strategy. She brings more than two decades of senior executive experience across the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security and Commerce, including service as Executive Assistant Administrator at the Transportation Security Administration. A former Presidential Rank Award recipient, Walton currently serves on NAPA’s Board of Directors and teaches graduate courses on dignity, belonging, and inclusive leadership at Boston College. Her work sits at the intersection of law, policy, and democratic governance, with a focus on translating values into practical, implementable solutions. 

Shaniqua Williams, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at West Virginia University and a Research Fellow with the Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR), where her work focuses on election administration, voter registration, and the policies and people that sustain democratic institutions. Her research examines election administration, race and ethnicity, Black women’s representation, and state politics, with an emphasis on how institutional design shapes democratic access and participation. Shaniqua earned her PhD in Public Administration and Public Policy from Auburn University, along with an MPA and a graduate certificate in Election Administration.