Amanda Patarino is the Government Affairs Manager for State Capacity at the Niskanen Center. She is responsible for outreach to Congress and federal agencies on efforts to improve the government’s ability to implement and achieve policy objectives. This includes drafting legislation to update the federal government’s civil service system and balance administrative procedure, as well as developing tools and resources to enable digital infrastructure and strengthen feedback loops between Congress and the executive branch.

Before joining Niskanen, Patarino worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, serving state and federal agencies on transformation and change management. Prior to that, she worked on presidential transition at a nonpartisan good-government nonprofit organization.

Patarino earned a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a bachelor’s degree in government from the Honors College at George Mason University. She lives in Washington, D.C., and serves on the boards of the United States Senate Youth Alumni Association and the George Mason Honors College Engaged Alumni Network.