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Joe Riley Jr. served over 10 years as Mayor of the City of ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, from 1975-2016. He graduated from the Citadel in 1964 and USC Law in 1967, and then served in the S.C. House of Representatives from 1968-1974. In his time as Mayor, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø was transformed from a decaying urban center to a top cultural destination. He is known for his revolutionary redevelopment projects, which he carefully crafted to add to the overall quality of life in the city. He diffused racial tensions by working closely with the African American community, and appointing the city's first black police chief, Rueben Greenberg. The crisis leadership that he demonstrated after Hurricane Hugo in 1989 gained national praise, with many admiring him for getting the city quickly cleaned up and running. He has developed a robust tourism economy for the city, in addition to securing the renowned Spoleto Art Festival. 

Bob O'Neill joined the Riley Center as an Executive in Residence in 2018, after serving as a Riley Fellow for two years. In this role, he has built the capacity of the Center's professional development services by providing expertise in building local government leadership. He also teaches in the Master of Public Administration program at the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. 

Mr. O'Neill is the former executive director of ICMA (International City/County Management Association), which advances professional local government worldwide. Before ICMA, Bob served as the president of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA). He served as Fairfax County executive from 1997-2000, where he is credited with developing a series of strategies aimed at revitalizing older residential communities and commercial areas in Fairfax County, as well as launching a series of initiatives focused on performance and results management. His reinvention of the government of Hampton, Virginia as City Manager from 1984-1997 was widely recognized. His many accomplishments included a downtown and waterfront revitalization initiative and development of a nationally recognized youth-at-risk program. 

Bob has been the recipient of the Maxwell School of Syracuse University's Spirit of Public Service Award and the National Public Service Award presented by the National Academy of Public Administration and the American Society for Public Administration. He is a NAPA fellow and faculty member of the University of Virginia's Senior Executive Institute. He earned his B.A. in political science from Old Dominion University and his Master's of Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Administration, Syracuse University. He also completed the Executive Program at Colgate Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, and received an honorary doctorate of law from Old Dominion University. 

Bill Tomes is an Executive in Residence at the Joseph P. Riley Jr. Center for Livable Communities at the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø and is the former Director of Governmental Research and Service at the Institute of Public Service and Policy Research at University of South Carolina. Through his consulting firm, Bill works with public and non-profit organizations throughout South Carolina. 

Bill has his Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a Master's degree in Human Resources. Over the past 30 years, he has worked as an organizational development consultant, specializing in both the private and public sectors in the United States and Canada. He has conducted training programs and written book chapters and articles on various human resources and governance topics. Bill currently serves on the faculty of the Local Government Leadership Institute, the Non-Profit Leadership Institute at Francis Marion University, and the Institute of Government for County Officials. 

Dr. Bella recently retired from a 40 year career in private behavioral healthcare and nonprofit management. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical-Community Psychology from the University of South Carolina, following her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa. During the early part of her career, Dr. Bella conducted clinical research focused on the efficacy of communication and behavioral interventions in couples therapy, the impact of divorce on children and using attachment theory to understand loneliness in women. She also taught undergraduate classes in psychology and had a clinical practice focused on relationship and family therapy and helping women overcome barriers to success. From there, she was recruited by a national healthcare company to develop a comprehensive behavioral healthcare system in central South Carolina, bringing together community providers of all levels of outpatient and inpatient care. Success in this position launched her into the emerging field of building large scale fully integrated behavioral health service delivery systems. She relocated to Western Pennsylvania where she spent 10 years developing and managing a large system for a private healthcare company. Components of this system included private practice of almost 100 psychiatrists, psychologists and clinical counselors integrated into multi-specialty medical practices throughout the greater Pittsburgh area, a network of behavioral health providers in Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and Northern West Virginia, multiple hospital partners and numerous specialty providers. The system created a seamless path for the movement of patients into different levels of care depending upon their needs. It also allowed for the evaluation of the effectiveness of treatment using quality improvement standards of care for depression and anxiety and other behavioral health disorders and the measurement of suicide and other self harm rates, violence and remission and relapse rates. As part of the larger healthcare company, the system became one of the first to achieve accreditation with the National Council on Quality. 

In the late 1990's, as the healthcare industry was rapidly changing with large hospital systems acquiring clinical practices, Dr. Bella decided to create a long-term retirement plan and chose ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø as a destination. She was offered a CEO position with a large, multi-program nonprofit in the area. The contrast of coming from a resource rich system to one with very limited and unstable resources was startling. As she helped this venerable organization rebuild its programs, administrative processes, funding relationships and facilities to become sustainable, she also launched an unexpected career in the nonprofit sector. She spent almost 25 years helping dozens of nonprofits develop ways of measuring the effectiveness of their programs, negotiating partnerships, writing successful grant applications and building effective boards. During her 11 year tenure with the local United Way, she was also successful in building a coordinated service delivery system in area high-poverty schools which brought together education, health and financial stability providers working in concert to improve education outcomes for students and their families. During this time, she met Dr. Kendra Stewart at the Riley Center for Livable Communities and recently became a Fellow at the Center. 

Dr. Laura A. Reese is a Professor Emeritus of Urban and Regional Planning at Michigan State University, President of Professional Animal Welfare Services, and a Fellow at the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø's Riley Center for Livable Communities. She was the founding Director of the Global Urban Studies Program at MSU, is the former Editor in Chief of the Journal of Urban Affairs, and is an editor for the journal Animals. She has a Master's Degree in Public Administration and a Doctorate in Political Science from Wayne State University in Detroit. Her main research and teaching areas are in urban politics/studies and public policy, economic development, animal welfare policy, and local governance, management and planning in Canada and the U.S. She has written 14 books and over 100 articles and book chapters in these areas. 

Dr. Reese has conducted large scale evaluations for the Economic Development Administration and sub-state economic development programs including Tax Increment Financing Authorities and Industrial Tax Abatements, and has worked with various public and nonprofit entities including the International City/County Management Association, The Pedigree Foundation, the Michigan Municipal League, and the Detroit City Council. Her books include: Fostering and the Human-Animal Bond: A Guide for Companion Animal Foster Care Providers and Shelters, 2025, Cambridge, MA: Elsevier; Strategies for Successful Animal Shelters, 2018, Amsterdam: Elselvier; Money for Nothing: Industrial Tax Abatements and Economic Development (with Gary Sands), 2012, Lanham,MD: Lexington Book; Comparative Civic Culture (with Raymond Rosenfield), 2012, London: Ashgate Publications; and Reinventing Civil Society: The Emerging Role of Faith-Based Organizations in America (with Richard Hula and Cynthia Jackson-Elmore), 2011, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.

Gerald L. Gordon, Ph.D. is an economist and author, and is the president and chief executive officer of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) in Fairfax County, VA, a position he has held since late 1983. In 2016, Virginia Business magazine named Gordon one of its "50 Most Influential Virginians." He was named to the same list in 2013, 2014 and 2015. In 2015, Dr. Gordon was honored by International Economic Development Council with the Jeffrey A. Finkle Organizational Leadership Award for a "lasting commitment to the field of economic development."

Gordon previously held positions with Arlington County, VA and the United States Department of Labor. Gordon has taught at the University of Maryland, College Park, George Mason University, and Virginia Commonwealth University. He has consulted with city and state governments throughout the United States and internationally. He has also served as a consultant to businesses, non-profit organizations, associations, colleges and universities, various government agencies including the U.S. Navy and United Nations. 

Gordon holds a Bachelor's degree from The Citadel, a Master's degree from George Washington University, and a Doctorate in International Economics from the Catholic University of America. He is the author of numerous articles on strategic planning, economic development, leadership styles, and other management topics. He has also authored 13 books and contributed to opinion pieces in the Washington Post, Forbes and American City and County. 

Gordon was awarded a Fulbright Award for a study in Scotland, where he made a series of recommendations on how to maintain and develop skilled employment in the region, and the approaches to doing so to secure its economic future when a nuclear power plant closes. He planned to further explore the region's huge potential for renewable energy but also come up with specific ways to implement inward investment into the northern Highland region. 

Jon holds a Ph.D. in Political Science with a concentration in public administration from the University of Tennessee. He received his Bachelor's and Master's of Arts degrees in political science from Appalachian State University. He has worked with state, local and non-profit agencies across the southeast for over 35 years as a university-based facilitator, consultant and trainer. Dr. Pierce has assisted a large number of organizations in the design and conduct of strategic planning and goal-setting efforts. He has facilitated in excess of 700 sessions with the policy boards of governmental, non-profit and community organizations. Dr. Pierce is recognized as an authority on state and local government in South Carolina. 

Dr. Pierce retired from full-service with the University of South Carolina in July 2009. He retired as the Director of Governmental Services for the University of South Carolina's Institute for Public Service and Policy Research. He held the faculty rank of Research Associate Professor and taught in the joint MPA programs at USC, Clemson, and ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. Upon his retirement, he was granted the title of Senior Fellow of the Institute. In 2015, he was granted status as a Fellow with the Riley Center. 

Prior to joining the faculty of the Institute for Public Service & Policy Research in 1986, Jon served as Director for the Governmental Services Institute and the Office of Professional Development and Community Education of Northern Kentucky University, and as Executive Director of the Appalachian Regional Bureau of Government at Appalachian State University. 

Dr. Morgan Hughey is an Associate Professor of Public Health, an Honors College faculty fellow, as well as a Riley Center fellow at the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. She received her Bachelor of Science in Health and Exercise Science from Furman University, a Master of Public Health and Ph.D. in Health Promotion, Education and Behavior from the University of South Carolina. In 2023, Dr. Hughey received the William V. Moore Distinguished Teacher-Scholar Award at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, which honors faculty members selected by their peers as exemplifying the teacher-scholar model. 

Dr. Hughey's research interests include built environment influences on physical activity and healthy eating, inequities in access to nutrition and physical activity resources, community-based approaches to improving health and quality of life, and development and evaluation of community health programs to increase physical activity and healthy eating. 

Dr. McLeod is an Associate Professor of Hospitality and Tourism Management at the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. He received his Bachelor of Science in Envionmental Health Sciences form the University of Georgia, his Master's of Business Administration from the University of Montana, and his Ph.D. from the University of Nevada. Brumby's research focuses on commercial accommodations, reservation systems and policies, accommodation tax, revenue management and the principles of hospitality and tourism management. Recently, Brumby partnered with Rest Responsibly and the Riley Center, where he was part of a nationwide study exploring the perspectives of short-term rental operators and local government staff on municipal management and regulation of short-term rentals.

Dr. Wu is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Graduate Certificate Program in Arts and Cultural Management at the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. She received her Master's in Arts Management and Master's in American Studies from the University of Buffalo, and her Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Wu's research focuses on the intersection of nonprofit arts and cultural management, public administration and policy, and social equity. With a background in American Studies and expertise in researching racial and ethnic issues, Dr. Wu is particularly interested in representation of diverse art forms and narratives in cultural institutions. She is currently working on several projects, such as the contribution of artists to the co-creation of public value, the utilization of arts and culture as strategies for place branding, and the use of social media in municipal governance for content creation and citizen engagement.

Dr. Ragusa is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. He received his Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from Bowling Green State University and his Master's and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Florida. Dr. Ragusa's research focuses on several intersecting topics: American and South Carolina politics, the Congress, political parties, elections, political economy, and statistical methods for the social sciences. He is the author of two books: "Congress in Reverse: Repeals from Reconstruction to the Present" and "First in the South: Why the South Carolina Presidential Primary Matters."