William Leighty

Prior to forming the Performance Leadership Group, LLC Bill served as Chief of Staff to Governor Tim Kaine from January 2006 until September of 2007. Bill also served as Chief of Staff to Governor Mark Warner from January 2002 until January 2006. Using his wide-ranging experience from nearly 30 years of state government service, Bill essentially served as the Commonwealth of Virginia's Chief Operating Officer. Bill oversaw the day-to-day operations of the Governor's Cabinet, Governor's office, and state agencies and developed, implemented and enforced cabinet reporting and operating procedures that brought efficient and effective operational decision making to the Commonwealth. In 2005 and 2008, Governing Magazine named Virginia one of the "Best Managed States in the Nation." In November of 2007, Bill was named by Governing Magazine as one of the nation's nine "Public Officials of the Year." During his service to the Commonwealth, Bill developed a reputation for handling emergency situations, including droughts, fires, the Sniper Incident, Hurricane Isabel and the Virginia Tech Incident. Bill was sent by Governor Warner to Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to assist Governor Blanco. For seven years, Bill was the Director of the Virginia Retirement System, where he led the agency to three consecutive US Senate Productivity Awards. Currently, Bill also serves on the faculty for the International Foundation for Employee Benefit Plans where he teaches pension system administrative strategies. In July of 2008, Bill completed a performance review of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, a $52 billion pension system. Recently, Bill also completed a three week engagement with the Scottish Executive; advising the government on how to implement a national performance management system.