He was Director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse, which is co-chaired by President George Herbert Walker Bush and President Bill Clinton. He has been president of two national associations: the Public Management Research Association and the National Association of Schools of Public Administration and Affairs. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and in 2010 won the Distinguished Research Award given by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration and the American Society for Public Administration for a coherent body of work over a career.