Gary D. Bass is the Founder and Executive Director of OMB Watch. Since founding the advocacy organization in 1983, Dr. Bass has testified before Congress, appeared on national television, addressed groups across the country, and written extensively on federal budgetary, program management, regulatory and information policy issues.

Dr. Bass is well known for assisting nonprofit organizations in better understanding federal rules and policies affecting their organizations and constituencies. He has been selected as one of the Nonprofit Times Power and Influence Top 50 each of the nine years of its existence. In 2006, the award noted, “Nobody is better at divining what legislative fine print means to the charitable sector, getting the translation out to leadership and rallying advocacy. Nothing slips by him. Nothing.”

Dr. Bass was also inducted into the Freedom Forum’s National Freedom of Information Hall of Fame in 2006 for his advocacy to make the federal government a more open and accountable operation. In addition to his 20-year leadership in promoting policies that make government information more publicly accessible, Dr. Bass was a prominent voice after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in preserving the public’s right to know. As a result of increased secrecy since 2001, Dr. Bass helped form the OpenTheGovernment.org coalition, which brings together the advocacy and journalism communities to defend against the growth of secrecy and to advance open government policies and priorities.

Technology has played an important part in Dr. Bass’ career. In 1989, prior to broad use of the Internet, he created RTK NET (the Right-to-Know Network at www.rtknet.org), a free online computer service to provide community groups access to government data about toxic chemicals released by chemical companies. Today, more than 540,000 visitors a year use RTK NET to get environmental and health data. In 2006, Dr. Bass oversaw creation of FedSpending.org, a free online database for citizens to find out where over $12 trillion in federal money goes and who gets it.

Dr. Bass has led many campaigns – often in coalition with local, state and national groups – in pursuit of a government that promotes social justice and responds to community needs. For example, Dr. Bass led OMB Watch in challenging a number of provisions in the Contract with America, and successfully formed a number of coalitions that stopped proposals that would have undermined our society's safety net. Working with organizations representing working men and women, as well as those representing environmental, educational, civil rights, human needs, religious, consumer and other public interest concerns, he stopped: a "no money, no mandates" measure that would have resulted in state and local governments being exempted from complying with federal laws, such as fair labor standards, civil rights protections, and voter registration laws; a constitutional amendment to balance the U.S. budget that would have seriously harmed human service delivery in this country; a variety of regulatory provisions that would have undermined health, safety, and environmental protections and safeguards; and various effort to silence the advocacy voice of charities across the country.

Over the years, Dr. Bass has stressed the importance of educating community groups about federal issues and getting engaged in public policy matters. He has been an advisor to many organizations and served on numerous boards, including the Advocacy Evaluation Project at Innovation Network, Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest, Coalition on Human Needs, Hampshire Research Institute, Loka Institute, National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Science and Environment Health Network, and a family foundation. He chairs OpenTheGovernment.org, Citizens for Sensible Safeguards, and NonprofitAdvocacy.org. And he has served on many panels and advisory bodies.

Dr. Bass has served on the faculty of the Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program at the Center for Public & Nonprofit Leadership at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute. He has taught classes at Johns Hopkins University, American University, Wayne State University, and the University of Michigan.

Prior to founding OMB Watch, Dr. Bass was President of the Human Services Information Center, where he wrote a book and numerous articles on human services issues, and published the Human Services INSIDER, a bimonthly newsletter on the politics of federal human services program. He has also served as: Director of Liaison for the International Year of Disabled Persons; consultant on several projects in special education and the mental health of children, youth, most notably, the preparation of the first annual report to Congress on the implementation of the Education of All Handicapped Children Act (P.L. 94-142); Special Assistant to Wilbur Cohen, then chair of the Michigan Governor's Task Force on the Investigation and Prevention of Abuse in Residential Institutions; Program Assistant at the Institute for Behavioral Research; and research roles in juvenile justice and community corrections.

Dr. Bass received a combined doctorate in psychology and education in 1979 from the University of Michigan, along with the University's highest award for graduate student teaching and several awards for academic excellence. He received a Masters (1978) and BA (1975) from the University of Michigan.