Who We Are

Robert L. Bixby is a senior advisor and former executive director of The Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan organization that encourages fiscal responsibility in Washington and helps educate the public about the federal budget and the need to protect our children and future generations from excessive government debt. He also hosts The Concord Coalition’s weekly podcast, Facing The Future.

Bixby joined Concord in 1992 and served in several positions, including policy director and national field director, before being named executive director in 1999. He has served as a member of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Debt Reduction Task Force (the Domenici-Rivlin commission), which produced a model plan for comprehensive fiscal reform.

He frequently speaks around the country on the nation’s fiscal challenges and possible bipartisan solutions, including greater government efficiency, tax reform, and improvements in the entitlement program. He has testified at congressional hearings and been interviewed by news organizations around the country. Bixby has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN, and Fox News.

He and The Concord Coalition’s “Fiscal Wake-Up Tour” were also featured prominently in the critically-acclaimed documentary film “I.O.U.S.A.”

Bixby has a bachelor’s degree in political science from American University, a Juris Doctorate from George Mason University School of Law, and a master’s degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Before joining Concord, he practiced law and served as the chief staff attorney of the Court of Appeals of Virginia.

Phil Smith is the National Field Director for The Concord Coalition. Founded in 1992, the coalition’s nonpartisan mission is to encourage fiscal responsibility and help educate the public about the federal budget and the need to protect our children and future generations from excessive government debt. It was founded by former US Senators Paul Tongas (D-MA) and Warren Rudman (R-NH).

With more than two decades of experience at The Concord Coalition, Phil has helped conduct countless seminars, congressional and presidential town hall meetings, and public policy initiatives. He has traveled to all 50 states and often delivers speeches to a range of political and civic organizations, colleges, universities, and financial planning groups. He works extensively with the media including appearances on most major television and radio networks such as CNN, FOX, PBS, NPR, CNBC, C-span, the BBC, and CTV (Canadian Television).

In addition to his career at the Concord Coalition, Phil served as the Chief Operating Officer for two state government agencies in Georgia: The Department of Community Affairs and the Technical College System of Georgia. He also served on the Washington staff of the late US Representative Doug Barnard, and the state capitol staff of several state representatives and senators in Atlanta.

Phil received gubernatorial appointments to the boards of directors of the Georgia Humanities Council and the Georgia Children and Youth Coordinating Council. He is a 2011 graduate of Leadership Atlanta where he currently serves as an officer on the board of trustees. He is a 2006 graduate of Leadership Georgia where he also served on their board of trustees.

In 2005, Phil was chosen as one of the top “40 Under 40” by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. He is the Past President of the downtown Atlanta Kiwanis Club, one of the oldest and largest civic clubs in the country.

Phil was raised primarily in Athens, Georgia, home of the University of Georgia where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. He also studied Mexican Politics and Spanish at the University of the Americas near Puebla, Mexico, and was awarded a visiting fellowship to Ming Chaun University in Taipei, Taiwan.

Lindsay Stephens is the Chief Operating Officer at The Concord Coalition and Concord Coalition Action Fund, where she manages day-to-day operations and works to strengthen the organizations’ internal systems and processes. With a passion for helping small teams achieve big impact, Lindsay specializes in building scalable processes, optimizing workflows, and fostering cross-team collaboration.

Before joining Concord, Lindsay was the Director of Operations and Board Liaison at the Personalized Medicine Coalition, where she focused on streamlining operations and supporting governance. She brings broad expertise in nonprofit management, financial oversight, and planning, and has helped mission-driven organizations improve how they work and deliver on their goals.

Lindsay earned her B.S. in Biology from Christopher Newport University.

Bob Zahradnik is Policy Director of Concord Coalition and Concord Coalition Action Fund where he supports the organizations efforts to build a grassroots movement to advocate for fiscal responsibility and place the federal budget on a more sustainable long-term path.

Zahradnik has more than 25 years of experience working on fiscal sustainability at all levels of government. Most recently he worked for the Pew Charitable Trusts focused on state fiscal policy research and advocacy. He led research efforts to improve the fiscal health of state budgets by identifying policies to help states better manage revenue volatility through improved reserve policies. He led advocacy efforts in more than two dozen states resulting in policy changes that have helped ensure states are better prepared for future economic downturns.

He has also worked on fiscal issues in the public sector. Zahradnik spent ten years working for the Office of the Chief Financial Officer in the District of Columbia. He worked in the Office of Budget and Planning in the late 1990s when the District was going through a fiscal crisis and facing bankruptcy. He was part of team in the budget office that helped steer the city back towards fiscal solvency and balanced budgets. He worked in the Office of Revenue analysis during the late 2000s when the Great Recession caused budget turmoil for states and cities across the country. He provided economic and fiscal analysis to the Chief Financial Officer and tracked the hundreds of millions of dollars in fiscal relief provided by the Federal government through the American Rescue and Recovery Act.

Zahradnik has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Penn State University and a Master’s of Public Administration from George Washington University.