John O’Leary is a research fellow at the Ash Institute at the Harvard Kennedy School and the executive editor of Better, Faster, Cheaper, a web site devoted to public sector innovation.

A sought-after public speaker, Mr. O’Leary’s writings on public policy have appeared in The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, The San Diego Union-Tribute, and elsewhere. He has held several leadership positions in Massachusetts state government, including Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, Director of the Division of Unemployment Assistance, and Chief Human Resource Officer.

A process engineer by training, Mr. O’Leary has been a vice president at Scudder Kemper Investments and the director of Business Process Reengineering at Lycos. He is a 1984 graduate of MIT and holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.