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All staff members' email addresses are their first initial and last name at crcmich.org. Staff can be contacted directly from this page by clicking on their names and titles.

Jeffrey Guilfoyle, President

Jeff started his career at CRC in September 2009. He was most recently the Director of the Office of Revenue and Tax Analysis (ORTA) in the Michigan Department of Treasury. Prior to that, he was Director of the Economic and Revenue Forecasting Division from 2004 to 2007 and a tax analyst in the Department of Treasury from 1998 to 2004. As Director of ORTA, his responsibilities include forecasting and tracking state tax receipts, estimating the impact of legislation on state tax revenues, and providing economic research support to the State Treasurer.

He received his B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Michigan State University. He will share his time between the Lansing and Livonia offices.

Craig Thiel, Director of State Affairs

Craig returned to CRC in 2006 after serving as the Lent Upson-Loren Miller Fellow from 1993 to 1995. Craig previously worked for the Michigan Legislature in the non-partisan House and Senate Fiscal Agencies from 1997 to 2006. Craig's career also includes work at the Michigan Department of State and the United States Environmental Protection Agency in Chicago. His work at CRC focuses primarily on state government finance issues, including the budget and tax policy.

Craig holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and political science from Kalamazoo College (1991) and a Masters degree in Public Administration from Wayne State University (1995). He holds positions on various professional, non-profit, and local government boards/associations. Craig works out of the Lansing office.

Eric W. Lupher, Director of Local Affairs

Eric joined CRC in 1987 through the Lent Upson-Loren Miller Fellowship, and then hired in full-time as a Research Associate in 1989. Eric has researched such issues as state taxes, state revenue sharing, highway funding, unemployment insurance, economic development incentives, and stadium funding. Recent work has been focused on local government matters, including intergovernmental cooperation, governance issues, and municipal finance. In addition to his research responsibilities, Eric manages the CRC website. After serving as treasurer of the Governmental Research Association for 15 years, he currently serves as the association's vice president. He currently serves as vice-chairman of the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council (GASAC), an advisory body for the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), representing the user community on behalf of the Governmental Research Association. He also is an ex-officio board member for the Michigan Local Government Benchmarking Consortium.

Eric holds a B.A. in International Relations from James Madison College at Michigan State University and a Masters in Public Administration from Wayne State University. He works out of the Livonia Office.

Bettie Buss, Senior Research Associate

Bettie returned to CRC in 2006 after serving as Director of Policy and Research for Detroit Renaissance from 1994 until 2006. In addition to working for CRC from 1986 to 1994, her career also included work as a Supervising Budget Analyst for the City of Detroit. Bettie holds a B.A. in Business Administration and English from LaGrange College and an M.B.A. from Wayne State University. She works out of CRC's Livonia Office.

Nicole Bradshaw, Research Associate

Nicole joined CRC in 2011. Prior to joining CRC, Nicole worked as a state and local government specialist in the Public Policy work group at Michigan State University Extension where she conducted nonpartisan research on a wide variety of topics including intergovernmental cooperation, local government consolidation, state transportation funding, performance measurement and benchmarking, and taxation.

Nicole has a bachelor of science degree in managerial economics from the University of California, Davis, and a master of science degree in agriculture, food, and resource economics from Michigan State University.

Greta Reade, Development Coordinator

Greta joined CRC in 2006. She has over 15 years of project management experience in automotive product development, software development, and environmental investigation. Greta earned a B.A. in Geology from Albion College and became a certified Project Management Professional in 2005. She has been active in the Southfield public schools for over a decade, receiving the city-wide Nancy Widman Award in 2006. She works out of CRC's Livonia office.

Michael King, Earhart Fellow

Michael joined CRC in 2011 through the Earhart Fellowship. He received a B.A. in Philosophy from Boston University and is currently getting a Master of Public Policy degree from Michigan State University. He is also the President of the Graduate Society for Policy Inquiry at MSU. Michael's research interests include natural resource economics, utility regulation, and environmental quality. He works out of CRC's Lansing office.

Earl M. Ryan, President Emeritus

Earl served as CRC's President from 1994 to 2009, returning to the Research Council after seven and one-half years as the first President of the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute in Indianapolis. Earl started with CRC in 1967 in Lansing and then worked for Michigan state government as a program evaluation analyst from 1970 to 1977. He returned to CRC in 1977 and became Research Director in 1979, leaving to serve as President of the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana from 1984 to 1987. Earl retired from CRC in 2009.

Thomas Clay, Emeritus