Staff

Sidney Bailey Hacker
Team Leader

Academic Background: Bachelor of Social Work, University of Texas at Austin; Masters in Public Affairs, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin.

Areas of Expertise: Workforce reform, education, employee benefits, telecommunications and electric utility deregulation and criminal justice

Key Projects: Texas Performance Reviews; action blueprint for creating the Texas Workforce Commission; performance reviews of the Public Utility Commission; Bordering the Future ; and financing options for sports facilities in Texas

Sidney Hacker has more than 10 years' professional experience in Texas government, including management and project director roles. In addition to the above-mentioned areas of policy expertise, Hacker has worked on issues including military base realignment and closure, the Superconducting Super Collider project, and the state's legislative, budgeting, appropriations, and performance measurement systems.

Before joining the Comptroller's office, Hacker worked as the Director of the Austin office of Texas' Office of State-Federal Relations, where she was responsible for the sunset review of the agency, as well as the agency's legislative appropriations request, personnel, and $10 million grant program. Before that position, Hacker worked with the House Appropriations Committee, where she helped craft solutions to the Edgewood v. Kirby lawsuit, concerning the state's system of school finance.

David M. Dennis

Academic Background: Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Mathematics, the University of Wisconsin; Master of Arts in Rehabilitation Counseling, the University of Northern Colorado. David Dennis is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor.

Areas of Expertise: Public education, youth programs and economic development

Key Projects: Texas Performance Reviews, Texas School Performance Reviews and economic development, employment and training programs at the Texas Department of Commerce

David M. Dennis joined the Comptroller's Texas School Performance Review (TSPR) team in 1996, focusing on the review of school district facilities and energy management, transportation, purchasing, asset and risk management, finance, and Medicaid reimbursement programs. He contributed to TSPR's reviews of the following school districts: Houston, Texarkana, Spring, Corpus Christi, Socorro, Ysleta, Port Arthur, Wimberley, Hamilton, Mt. Pleasant, Comal, and El Paso. Dennis also participated in the fifth and sixth major Texas Performance Review (TPR) reports and wrote the Medical Services and Vocational Program chapters of TPR's review of the Texas School for the Deaf.

Before joining the Comptroller's office, Dennis managed and designed policy for the Texas Department of Commerce's Smart Job Fund, a statewide economic development program. As a planner for employment and training programs at the Department of Commerce, Dennis designed strategic initiatives for skill standards projects; provided training as a state-certified Total Quality Management instructor; wrote and presented policy for the state workforce council; and developed strategic policies for welfare reform implementation.

As director for the Legal Guardianship Program through Family Eldercare, Inc., Dennis provided case management oversight for impaired individuals; developed and delivered training for volunteer guardians; wrote and administered state and local grants; and supervised staff and volunteers. As manager of the Texas Department of Community Affairs' Older Worker Program, Dennis designed and implemented the State Plan for Older Workers; negotiated contracts for all older worker projects statewide; trained agency workers in the delivery of technical assistance; and planned and presented workshops for major conferences.

Ruth V. Ford

See Health & Human Services Team.

Don Hoyte

Academic Background: Bachelor of Arts in Geography, summa cum laude, State University of New York at Buffalo; Masters in Transportation and International Trade, State University of New York at Buffalo; Ph.D. in Geography and Regional Economics, State University of New York at Buffalo.

Areas of Expertise: Economic forecasting, economic development and regional economies

Key Projects: Texas Performance Reviews and Bordering the Future

Don Hoyte is the deputy manager of the Strategic Research Division, which publishes and maintains numerous economic indicators including the Texas Stock Index, the Help Wanted Index, reports on the local economies of the state's 24 planning regions and special industry and financial reports. Hoyte has been a lead analyst on economic development issues with TPR and was the primary author of the Comptroller's report on Texas-Mexico issues, Bordering the Future. Hoyte has visited and made presentations on economic trends in nearly every metropolitan area of the state, including a series of joint seminars with Dr. Ray Perryman. Hoyte has served on the Board of Texas Economists for the Kiplinger Letter.

Before joining the Comptroller's office, Hoyte was an independent marketing and economic consultant and vice president for Economic Analysis for the John Gray Institute at Lamar University in Beaumont. He authored the institute's Southeast Texas Quarterly Economic Review and Forecast and served on the Texas Economic Development Commission's Economic Policy Advisory Committee. During this time, he authored reports both for the institute and the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. His studies have been cited in the Wall Street Journal, Petroleum Management, Texas Monthly, the Houston Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News. Before moving to Texas, Hoyte was Director of Economic Analysis for the New York State Senate Transportation Committee.

Kimberlee K. Harper Hanken

Academic Background: Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Spanish, cum laude, Willamette University, Salem, Oregon; Masters in Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin, LBJ School of Public Affairs.

Areas of Expertise: Workforce development, economic analysis, economic development and education

Key Projects: S tatewide grant review process

Kimberlee Harper Hanken joined the Comptroller's Strategic Research Division in September 1999. Prior to joining the Comptroller's office, she worked as a market researcher for the EnterTech Project at the IC ² Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied the workforce system, identified markets and distribution strategies for the EnterTech multimedia training program and assisted in recruiting pilot testing sites.

During summer 1998, Hanken was a research associate with the National Governor's Association (NGA), where she focused on workforce development, welfare reform and early childhood policy. In 1997, she served as state program officer for the AmeriCorps program in Oregon. In that capacity, she directed the annual statewide grant review process, provided technical assistance, monitored programs and coordinated various statewide conferences.

She is the author of two NGA studies: Early Childhood Activities in the States, 1996-98 and Strategies to Promote Education, Skill Development, and Career Advancement Opportunities for Low-Skilled Workers.

Don Kiser

Academic Background: Bachelor of Arts in English, Austin College, Sherman, Texas; Masters in Public Administration, Southwest Texas State University.

Areas of Expertise: Public policy, state and local taxation and government finance and operations

Key Projects: Three Texas Performance Reviews, Bordering the Future, Texas Regional Outlook, and Forces of Change

Don Kiser has more than 11 years of experience in public policy. Since joining the Comptroller's office in 1988, Don has served as a research analyst and Research section supervisor and presently is manager of the Strategic Research Division.

Kiser provided project management, team leader and analyst services to three major TPR reports, and was project manager for Bordering the Future, the Comptroller's comprehensive study of the Texas-Mexico Border region. Kiser also served as project manager for Texas Regional Outlook, a series of regional economic outlook and industry analysis reports and has directed the production of Fiscal Notes, the Comptroller's monthly newsletter. Kiser also conducted a review of computer systems integration for the Comptroller's report on consolidating Texas workforce training programs, and authored an analysis of the Texas technology and defense industries for Forces of Change, an agency study of the future of the Texas economy. In 1993, Kiser served on the Governor's Task Force on Economic Transition, which studied downsizing at Texas military installations. Kiser has organized major conferences on topics such as technology policy for Texas state government, the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement and local government technology innovation.

Kiser is a member of the CenTex Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), and was selected to judge original academic and professional research reports for CenTex ASPA's 1998 James W. McGrew Research Award.

Maria Mendez-Lewis

See Health and Human Services Team.

Gary G. Preuss

Academic Background: Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Psychology, Rice University; Masters in Demography, Georgetown University, Washington, D. C.; graduate coursework in Economics at the University of Texas at Austin and Sociology at the University of Chicago; petroleum title work at Midland Community College.

Areas of Expertise: Econometrics and economic forecasting

Gary Preuss has 20 years of experience with public and private entities in econometric modeling and economic and social research. As a member of the Comptroller's Revenue Estimating Division, Gary and Dr. Tamara Plaut collaborate to produce economic and demographic forecasts with considerable industry-level detail. These state economic forecasts become the first step in the Comptroller's constitutional responsibility to estimate future state revenues. Preuss has represented the Comptroller's office at numerous events and writes for the Comptroller's Texas Economic Update publication; maintains on-line databases of economic information, produces the Texas Economic Outlook statistical packet; and is a monthly contributor to the "Lone Star 5" page of the Comptroller's Fiscal Notes newsletter.

Before joining the Comptroller's office, Preuss had a varied career including positions as an economist and demographer at Texas Department of Water Resources and Texas Department of Commerce and private research and consulting work in the areas of energy, education, city planning, and transportation with Ecosometrics, Inc., and Southwest Econometrics. Preuss also worked as a research associate at the United Way of America national office and has experience as an independent petroleum landman in Midland, Texas, where he calculated the proportions of mineral rights owned by various parties, wrote oil and gas leases, and cleared title ownership problems.