Brian serves as a Senior Policy Advisor for ZHF Consulting. He began his career in the state Senate in 1991 and served under six Senate Presidents and nine Finance Committee Chairs during his tenure. Prior to taking over as Senate Finance Director – a position he held for more than twenty years – Brian served as a fiscal analyst for the majority caucus and as an aide to the Ohio Senate Finance Chair.  In his role as Senate Finance Director, he staffed the Senate Finance Committee, the Financial Institutions Committee, the Ways & Means Committee, the State Controlling Board, and served on special appropriations-related committees including the Medicaid Managed Care Study Committee, the Lottery Profits Review Commission, and multiple Tax Study Committees.  He also served as a member of the National Association of Legislative Fiscal Officers (NALFO), serving as staff vice-chair of the Budgets & Revenue Committee. 

 

For eleven state budget cycles, Brian was the Ohio Senate’s lead staffer on legislative issues involving operating and capital appropriations, permanent law statutory changes in budget bills, and legislatively proposed state constitutional amendments regarding debt or finance matters. He worked in a bipartisan fashion with his counterparts in the Ohio House and the Governor’s Office of Budget & Management to craft state budget bills – operating, capital, Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, Ohio Industrial Commission, Transportation, Tobacco Master Settlement, reappropriations, and corrective measures – that would become law in each successive biennium.

 

In 2014, Brian accepted a position as Associate Vice-President for State Relations in the Government Affairs Office of Ohio State University. He directed the state lobbying efforts for the university with the Ohio General Assembly, the Governor’s Office, and other statewide elected officials as well as with state agencies, boards, and commissions. In this position, Brian helped shape state law regarding higher education, workforce development, tech commercialization, sports gaming, NIL, and many other issues.

 

Due to the breadth of experience across state government, Brian has been appointed to the state’s Sunset Review Committee by two successive administrations to assist legislators and other gubernatorial appointees in making recommendations for streamlining and updating Ohio’s Boards & Commissions.

 

Brian earned a B.A. in Political Science from Ohio State University. He lives in Upper Arlington with his wife, Ellen. They have two adult children, Jane and Jimmy.