Robert Greenstein
Founder and President Emeritus of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Updated September 30, 2021
Greenstein will receive the 2021 Robert M. Ball Award for Outstanding Achievements in Social Insurance in November 2021. Learn more about the award event on November 9th, as well as Greenstein’s role as a leading voice on the federal budget and a range of domestic policy issues, including anti-poverty programs and various aspects of tax and health care policy.
In 2008, Robert Greenstein co-chaired the Academy’s 21st conference and won the Heinz Award for Public Policy for “representing the interests of low-and middle-income Americans on federal budget issues.” He also won the 2008 John Gardner Leadership Award presented annually by the Independent Sector to “an individual whose leadership in or within the nonprofit community has mobilized and unified people, Institutions, or causes that improve people’s lives.” That same year, his Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) was named one of the most effective public policy advocates in Washington.
According to Kenneth Apfel, former Chair of the Academy’s Board of Directors and also on the CBPP’s Board, Bob Greenstein is the consummate federal policy wonk – passionate on these issues and well-respected by both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill. He’s creating an important ripple of budget analysis efforts in the states and abroad.”
Mr. Greenstein is founder and Director of the nonprofit research CBPP and has studied a range of government policies and programs affecting low-and moderate-income Americans for the four decades. Prior to founding the CBPP, he was Administrator for the Food and Nutrition Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He also served as a member of the 1994 Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement Reform. Mr. Greenstein received one of the six 1991 Public Service Achievement Awards awarded by Common Cause and he received the MacArthur Fellowship “genius” award in 1996.
A member of the National Academy of Social Insurance since 1989, Mr. Greenstein has served on its Board of Directors and on the Advisory Board of The Journal on Poverty, Income Distribution, and Income Assistance of the Social Insurance Research Network (SIRN). He received his A.B. from Harvard College and has done graduate work at the University of California–Berkeley. Mr. Greenstein lives in Washington DC with his wife Elissa Parker. In his spare time he enjoys film, mystery novels, and music ranging from classical to blues to rock and roll.
Updated September 30, 2021
Greenstein will receive the 2021 Robert M. Ball Award for Outstanding Achievements in Social Insurance in November 2021. Learn more about the award event on November 9th, as well as Greenstein’s role as a leading voice on the federal budget and a range of domestic policy issues, including anti-poverty programs and various aspects of tax and health care policy.
In 2008, Robert Greenstein co-chaired the Academy’s 21st conference and won the Heinz Award for Public Policy for “representing the interests of low-and middle-income Americans on federal budget issues.” He also won the 2008 John Gardner Leadership Award presented annually by the Independent Sector to “an individual whose leadership in or within the nonprofit community has mobilized and unified people, Institutions, or causes that improve people’s lives.” That same year, his Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) was named one of the most effective public policy advocates in Washington.
According to Kenneth Apfel, former Chair of the Academy’s Board of Directors and also on the CBPP’s Board, Bob Greenstein is the consummate federal policy wonk – passionate on these issues and well-respected by both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill. He’s creating an important ripple of budget analysis efforts in the states and abroad.”
Mr. Greenstein is founder and Director of the nonprofit research CBPP and has studied a range of government policies and programs affecting low-and moderate-income Americans for the four decades. Prior to founding the CBPP, he was Administrator for the Food and Nutrition Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He also served as a member of the 1994 Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement Reform. Mr. Greenstein received one of the six 1991 Public Service Achievement Awards awarded by Common Cause and he received the MacArthur Fellowship “genius” award in 1996.
A member of the National Academy of Social Insurance since 1989, Mr. Greenstein has served on its Board of Directors and on the Advisory Board of The Journal on Poverty, Income Distribution, and Income Assistance of the Social Insurance Research Network (SIRN). He received his A.B. from Harvard College and has done graduate work at the University of California–Berkeley. Mr. Greenstein lives in Washington DC with his wife Elissa Parker. In his spare time he enjoys film, mystery novels, and music ranging from classical to blues to rock and roll.