About Thomas H. Stanton

Thomas H. Stanton is an attorney based in Washington, D.C.  His academic, legal and policy experience relates to the capacity of public institutions to deliver services effectively, with specialties in risk management, federal credit and benefits programs, government corporations, and government regulation. In recent years, Stanton has provided legal and policy counsel relating to the design and operation of a variety of federal government programs. He served as a staff member of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in 2010 and 2011, focusing on (1) governance and risk management, and (2) the mortgage market.

The key to Stanton’s approach is the insight that the perspective of public administration – a discipline that focuses on public policy implementation and which is too often neglected in both academe and practice – can be valuable in addressing fundamental issues of government and private markets. Stanton is a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Governmental Studies at Johns Hopkins University, where he teaches graduate seminars on a range of topics seeking to integrate considerations of public policy with public administration and program implementation. He also taught a course based on his book Why Some Firms Thrive While Others Fail:  Governance and Management Lessons from the Crisis (Oxford University Press, 2012).  His other books include A State of Risk: Will Government-Sponsored Enterprises be the next Financial Crisis? (HarperCollins, 1991) and Government Sponsored Enterprises: Mercantilist Companies in the Modern World (AEI Press, 2002).

In addition, Mr. Stanton edited with Benjamin Ginsberg, Making Government Manageable: Executive Organization and Management in the 21st Century (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004).  He also edited, Meeting the Challenge of 9/11: Blueprints for Effective Government (M.E. Sharpe Publishers, 2006). His first book on Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), edited with Douglas Webster, is Managing Risk and Performance: A Guide for Federal Decision Makers (John Wiley & Sons, 2014), and his second, edited with Kenneth Fletcher, is Public Sector Enterprise Risk: Advancing Beyond the Basics (Routledge, 2019). His most recent book is American Race Relations and the Legacy of British Colonialism (Routledge, 2020), building on his graduate work on colonialism, and his legal studies.

Stanton has written numerous articles for such publications as Public Administration Review, The Administrative Law Journal, American Banker, and The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Stanton earned his B.A. degree from the University of California at Davis (Phi Beta Kappa and a triple major in Chemistry, Political Science, and German), M.A. from Yale University (International Relations), and J.D. from the Harvard Law School (see the photos below of his Moot Court argument before Justice Thurgood Marshall). The National Association of Counties has awarded him its Distinguished Service Award for his advocacy on behalf of the intergovernmental partnership.  In 2009, he received the award for the best article published in the journal Public Budgeting & Finance. He is fluent in German and has conducted research in several different countries.

Mr. Stanton has served as Chair of the Standing Panel on Executive Organization and Management and as a board member of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA). He is a former member of the federal Senior Executive Service. He has just been elected to the National Council of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA).

Law School: Thomas H. Stanton arguing a moot court case before Justice Thurgood Marshall

Law School: Justice Thurgood Marshall with Thomas H. Stanton