On June 13, surrounded by friends and former colleagues at the OMB/BOB Alumni Society’s spring luncheon, Charles E. Kieffer received the 2025 Paul L. Posner Federal Budgeting Career Legacy Award, a well-earned recognition for more than four decades of outstanding public service in the federal budgeting world.
Now in its eleventh year, the Posner Award is presented by the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University in partnership with the Alumni Society. It’s named in honor of the late faculty leader Paul Posner, a giant in the field of public administration who brought both wisdom and warmth to the GAO and later to classrooms before his passing in 2017.
Presenting the award on behalf of the Schar School, Alan Abramson, professor and director of the Schar School’s Center on Nonprofits, Philanthropy, and Social Enterprise, remarked how fitting it was to celebrate Kieffer’s career while remembering Posner’s legacy as both men shaped the institutions they served with integrity, intellect, and a quiet but firm sense of purpose.
The introduction by Joe Minarik, an award committee member and former OMB official who presented the award with Abramson, summed it up: “Chuck Kieffer well deserves the Posner Award for his distinguished career in the federal service, a career marked by a unique combination of technical expertise and political—truly bipartisan—acumen. He faithfully spoke truth to power.”
Kieffer’s résumé reads like a master class in public budgeting. Over 44 years, he held senior roles on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue, most notably as Staff Director of the Senate Appropriations Committee under Chairs Byrd, Leahy, and Mikulski, managing more than 60 professionals tasked with overseeing $1.7 trillion in annual federal spending. His work also helped shape the Department of Homeland Security in its early years, and he steered appropriations for the District of Columbia in the early 2000s.
Before that, he spent 16 years at the Office of Management and Budget, rising to become Acting Associate Director for Legislative Affairs. He served through the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations, known for his steady hand and nonpartisan approach. He started his federal career in the Office of the Secretary at what was then Health, Education, and Welfare—later HHS—gaining deep insight into how policy becomes practice through budgets.
Along the way, Kieffer earned a shelf of honors, including the President’s Distinguished Executive Rank Award (1996), the Robert Damus Public Service Award (2001), and most recently, the William Cresswell Congressional Staff Leadership Award (2022).
Kieffer holds an MPA from American University and a bachelor’s in Economics and Government from William & Mary. The Posner Award, made possible by a generous grant from BOB/OMB alumni, adds one more well-deserved accolade to a remarkable career in public service.
