David Racine named executive director of the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership

David Racine has been named the executive director of the Center for State Policy and Leadership (CSPL) at the University of Illinois Springfield. He has served as interim executive director since June 2010.

Racine came to UIS in the Fall of 2007 through a successful national search for a new director of the Institute for Legal, Legislative, and Policy Studies at UIS, a unit within the Center for State Policy & Leadership. He has held a number of administrative leadership, consulting, and project management positions, accumulating more than 35 years of experience working with public policy, public affairs research, and program development in a variety of public and private sector organizations.

“David’s expertise and experience make him an ideal person to lead the Center for State Policy & Leadership, and I am delighted that he has accepted the position,” said Lynn Pardie, UIS Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. “I know that the Center will continue to advance under his leadership.”

Prior to joining UIS, he led a foundation-funded national organization, Replication and Program Strategies, devoted to the scale-up of effective health, education, and social programs. He was the founding staff member of the Points of Light Foundation and served for a time as its executive vice president and chief operating officer. He also served for eight years as Director of Government Affairs and Social Policy for the American Public Welfare Association, the national organization representing state and local human service agencies. Racine was a senior policy advisor to New Jersey Governor Tom Kean during his second term and legislative director for U.S. Senator Jack Danforth at the start of his third term.

Racine holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Ph.D. from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Center for Public Administration and Policy.