Maurice P. McTigue

The Honorable Maurice McTigue, QSO, is vice president for outreach at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He is director of the Mercatus Center's Government Accountability Project and a member of its Spending and Budget Initiative and State and Local Policy Project. 

He joined the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in 1997, where he has advised the Office of Management and Budget and most federal agencies in the Clinton and Bush administrations. He has consulted with legislators and governors in over 20 states. In 2003, he was appointed to the Office of Personnel Management Senior Review Committee, formed to make recommendations for new Human Resources systems at the then newly created Department of Homeland Security. McTigue and the Mercatus Center served as special advisors to Louisiana's Commission on Streamlining Government. In 2010, McTigue was named to Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell's Commission on Government Reform and Restructuring.

A seasoned expert on government reform, McTigue brings practical experience and scholarly research to the table from his distinguished career as a former cabinet minister and member of parliament in his native New Zealand. Holding seven different ministerial portfolios during his nine years in the New Zealand parliament, McTigue was one of the architects of the "New Zealand miracle," which dramatically reformed the country's government and economy by implementing market-driven, pro-growth policies. A farmer by trade, McTigue served in New Zealand's parliament from 1985 to 1993 before becoming his country's ambassador to Canada.

In a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in 1999, Queen Elizabeth II bestowed upon McTigue the prestigious Queen’s Service Order in recognition of his public service, one of the highest honors attainable for civil service in New Zealand.