Kent Gardner

Dr. Kent Gardner’s public policy expertise ranges from public finance and public administration to health care and education reform. With 25 years of experience, he supports CGR’s public service mission across the spectrum of clients. Media frequently seek his comments on economic issues.

Dr. Gardner joined CGR in 1991 as Director of Economic Analysis and served as President from 2005 to 2012. While President he led the expansion of their geographic footprint to areas of the Midwest; directed the development of their special data and analysis tools (informANALYTICS) and expanded their offerings to web-based community profiles. Supporting solutions for critical community challenges, the profiles provide credible and accessible access to key decision metrics (see ACTRochester ).

A significant share of Dr. Gardner’s work involves connecting policy action and program expenditures to their social, fiscal and economic impacts. He leads all of CGR's economic impact assessments and is a major contributor to their many program evaluations. As both an economist and a statistician, he brings a nuanced understanding of causation and a deep appreciation both for the potential value and the limitations of established datasets and survey data.

His expertise also extends to cost control and management of government services, and consolidation planning for municipalities and school districts.

Prior to joining CGR, Dr. Gardner was an Associate Professor of Economics in the State University of New York (Potsdam College), where he founded the North Country Economic Research Center. He spent a sabbatical at a Saratoga Springs, NY consulting group before leaving the college to join CGR.

Dr. Gardner holds B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Dr. Gardner is often asked to speak and write on economics, health policy, including the Affordable Care Act, and education reform. Dr. Gardner also teaches Health Policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He is a regular columnist for the Rochester (NY) Business Journal and writes for other publications on occasion.