State Legistlative Leaders Foundation

Stephen G. Lakis, President

Stephen Lakis serves as President of the State Legislative Leaders Foundation. He was appointed to this position by the Foundation´s Board of Directors in 1981 after eight years working for the Foundation as a Research Associate, Director of Operations and Vice President, respectively.

During the past two decades he succeeded in transforming a small research organization into the preeminent legislative leadership organization in the nation.  Under his leadership, the Foundation’s scope of activities has expanded nationally and globally into a vigorous, multi-faceted organization funded by major corporations and by grants from a variety of philanthropic foundations and government agencies.

Over the course of his career Stephen has gained a thorough understanding of the role of leadership and the American state legislative process.  He also created the blueprint for bringing political and business leaders together in academic settings to examine critical public policy issues and aspects of leadership.  He has organized scores of national educational programs in affiliation with prestigious colleges and universities across America and he is the principal author of a number of research grants and co-author of several major research studies, most recently studies focusing on children-at-risk and welfare reform.  Stephen has also written and frequently spoken on legislative leadership and legislative performance and on the topics of ethics and transparency, public policy design, and lobbying in developing parliaments and legislatures.

His understanding of legislative leaders extends well beyond our national borders.  In 1998, he created a new transatlantic branch of the State Legislative Leaders Foundation in Europe that brings US state legislative leaders together with parliamentary leaders from European nations.

Apart from his work with the Foundation, Stephen owns a publishing company responsible for the most widely read political reference text on Massachusetts state government, The Massachusetts Political Almanac.

Before joining the State Legislative Leaders Foundation, Stephen briefly served as an intern and research assistant in the Connecticut State Senate.  He is a graduate of The University of Bridgeport in Connecticut (honors, Political Science/full scholarship, debate) and attended graduate school at American University in Washington, D.C.  Stephen has four children: Christopher, Stephen Emmanuel, Caitlin, and Emily.  He recently married the former Evelene Corrigan, and her two children, Danielle and Thomas, are now a part of his family.­