Carl DeMaio has dedicated his career to public service. As a national leader in government reform, Carl is shaping efforts to hold government programs at all levels accountable for delivering tangible results for the taxpayer. His advice has been sought by elected and career government officials from both political parties, and he has examined the performance and financial management of numerous government programs resulting in recommendations for fundamental reform.

As an entrepreneur and businessman, he founded the Performance Institute—a private think tank that specializes in reforming government programs. With offices on both coasts of the country, the Performance Institute has grown into the nation’s largest government reform think tank and is widely considered the authority on performance-based management practices in government, law enforcement, non-profits and schools. Committed to putting ideas into action through political change, Carl created the California Government Accountability Council (CGAC) to advocate fundamental reforms in California state and local government. Carl is also a Senior Fellow at Reason Foundation— a Los Angeles-based free-market think tank.

He is the author of the California Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights — a ballot iniative to limit tax and fee increases, control the level of state debt, create a budget “rainy day” fund, and impose a spending cap on state government. He also authored the Transitioning to Governance report for President George W. Bush that generated many of the ideas implemented in the President’s Management Agenda. Carl recently led a research team that produced the Citizens’ Budget Plan for the State of California to balance the state’s $38.2 billion deficit—without resorting to tax increases or draconian cuts in quality of life services. The Orange County Register editorialized on the Citizen’s Budget Plan noting it would “lay the foundation for finding a sensible and lasting way out of the current crisis” and “the result would be a more efficient government and a more business-friendly state.” Carl resides in San Diego, California.