Reason Foundation
Search Reason
Reason Foundation Staff
Leonard Gilroy

Director of Government Reform
Reason Foundation
leonard.gilroy@reason.org
Click Here for a High-Resolution Photo
MEDIA INQUIRIES:
Chris Mitchell
Director of Communications
chris.mitchell@reason.org
(310) 367-6109
Bio
Leonard Gilroy is the Director of Government Reform at Reason Foundation, a nonprofit think tank advancing free minds and free markets. Gilroy researches privatization, government reform, fiscal, transportation, infrastructure and urban policy issues.
Gilroy has a diversified background in policy research and implementation, with particular emphases on public-private partnerships, competition, government efficiency, transparency, accountability, and government performance. Gilroy has worked closely with legislators and elected officials in Texas, Arizona, Louisiana, New Jersey, Utah, Virginia, California and several other states and local governments in efforts to design and implement market-based policy approaches, improve government performance, enhance accountability in government programs, and reduce government spending.
In 2010 and 2011, Gilroy served as a gubernatorial appointee to the Arizona Commission on Privatization and Efficiency, and in 2010 he served as an advisor to the New Jersey Privatization Task Force, created by Gov. Chris Christie.
Gilroy is the editor of the widely-read Annual Privatization Report, which examines trends and chronicles the experiences of local, state, and federal governments in bringing competition to public services. Gilroy also edits Reason's annual Innovators in Action report, which profiles public sector innovators in their own words, including former U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani and more.
Gilroy's articles have been featured in such leading publications as The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, The Weekly Standard, Washington Times, Houston Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Arizona Republic, San Francisco Examiner, San Diego Union-Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Sacramento Bee and The Salt Lake Tribune. He has also appeared on CNN, Fox News Channel, Fox Business, CNBC, National Public Radio and other media outlets.
Prior to joining Reason, Gilroy was a senior planner at a Louisiana-based urban planning consulting firm. He also worked as a research assistant at the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research at Virginia Tech. Gilroy earned a B.A. and M.A. in Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Tech.
AllStudiesBlog PostsOp-Eds
- How to Avoid Closing Washington State Parks
Leonard Gilroy
May 17, 2013, 1:57pm - Rethinking Washington State Parks: How to Avoid Governor Inslee’s Plan to Close 60 State Parks
Antiquated, top-down management model is unsustainable; private sector can play major role
Leonard Gilroy
May 17, 2013 - Why is the CDC Being Anti-Science on State Liquor Privatization?
Leonard Gilroy
May 14, 2013, 2:26pm - Louisiana Republicans Introduce Bills to Replicate Massachusetts's Pro-Union, Anti-Privatization “Pacheco Law”
Leonard Gilroy
May 9, 2013, 7:36pm - Louisiana Republicans Introduce Bills to Replicate Massachusetts's Pro-Union, Anti-Privatization “Pacheco Law”
Bills would effectively shut down use of privatization, competitive contracting to lower costs of government
Leonard Gilroy
May 9, 2013 - Innovators in Action: Jacksonville, FL Commissioner of Public-Private Partnerships Renée Finley on Building the City's PPP Program to Drive Efficiency, Quality of Life
Leonard Gilroy
May 7, 2013, 3:36pm - Building Jacksonville’s Public-Private Partnership Program to Drive Efficiency, Quality of Life
Interview with Renée Finley, Commissioner of Public-Private Partnerships, City of Jacksonville, Florida
Leonard Gilroy
May 7, 2013 - New at Reason: Looking Back at the Last Year in Local Government Privatization
Leonard Gilroy
May 6, 2013, 4:25pm - New at Reason: Privatization Developments in Criminal Justice and Corrections
Leonard Gilroy
May 6, 2013, 3:55pm - State and International Corrections Privatization Update
Subsection of Annual Privatization Report 2013: Criminal Justice and Corrections
Leonard Gilroy and Harris Kenny
May 6, 2013 - 2012 Corrections Privatization Overview
Subsection of Annual Privatization Report 2013: Criminal Justice and Corrections
Leonard Gilroy
May 6, 2013 - Developments in Criminal Justice and Corrections
Annual Privatization Report 2013 examines criminal justice and corrections trends
Leonard Gilroy, Harris Kenny, Alexander Volokh and Andrew Livingston
May 6, 2013 - New at Reason: Looking Back at the Last Year in Education Reform and School Choice
Leonard Gilroy
April 29, 2013, 9:00am - New at Reason: Looking Back at the Last Year in State Government Privatization
Leonard Gilroy
April 22, 2013, 1:43pm - Developments in State Government Privatization
Annual Privatization Report 2013 examines privatization trends at the state level
Leonard Gilroy and Lisa Snell
April 22, 2013 - State Budget Update
Subsection of Annual Privatization Report 2013: State Government Privatization
Leonard Gilroy
April 22, 2013 - Privatization of State Lottery Management
Subsection of Annual Privatization Report 2013: State Government Privatization
Leonard Gilroy
April 22, 2013 - The Emergence of Social Impact Bonds: Paying for Success in Social Service Innovation
Subsection of Annual Privatization Report 2013: State Government Privatization
Leonard Gilroy
April 22, 2013 - California Pioneers Public-Private Partnerships for Private Operation of State Parks
Subsection of Annual Privatization Report 2013: State Government Privatization
Leonard Gilroy
April 22, 2013 - Higher Education Public-Private Partnerships Update
Subsection of Annual Privatization Report 2013: State Government Privatization
Leonard Gilroy
April 22, 2013 - Social Infrastructure Public-Private Partnerships Update
Subsection of Annual Privatization Report 2013: State Government Privatization
Leonard Gilroy
April 22, 2013 - State Liquor Privatization Update
Subsection of Annual Privatization Report 2013: State Government Privatization
Leonard Gilroy
April 22, 2013 - State Privatization News and Notes
Subsection of Annual Privatization Report 2013: State Government Privatization
Leonard Gilroy
April 22, 2013 - New at Reason: Looking Back at the Last Year in Federal Government Privatization
Leonard Gilroy
April 15, 2013, 3:47pm - New Jersey Announces Lottery Privatization Contract Award
Leonard Gilroy
April 12, 2013, 5:12pm - Margaret Thatcher: "Privatisation shrinks the power of the state and free enterprise enlarges the power of the people"
Leonard Gilroy
April 8, 2013, 9:12am - New at Reason: Looking Back at the Last Year in Toll Roads, HOT Lanes, Infrastructure Finance
Leonard Gilroy
April 8, 2013, 9:00am - Innovators in Action: Swampscott, MA Selectman Barry Greenfield on Breaking the State’s Control of Municipal Pensions in Massachusetts
Leonard Gilroy
April 8, 2013, 8:45am - Breaking the State’s Control of Municipal Pensions in Massachusetts
Interview with Barry Greenfield, Town of Swampscott, Mass. Selectman and Founder/Publisher of EfficientGov.com
Leonard Gilroy
April 8, 2013 - Transportation Priorities for North Carolina
Twenty cost-effective recommendations for the Tar Heel State
Leonard Gilroy, M. Gregory Fields, Baruch Feigenbaum, David T. Hartgen and Robert Poole
April 3, 2013 - Base California's Budget on Performance, Not Politics
To Gov. Brown, it's more responsible for the state government to just keep spending money on autopilot without wasting time measuring effectiveness or reviewing results
Leonard Gilroy
January 29, 2013 - Better Service. Better Price.
How privatization can streamline government, improve services, and reduce costs for Kansas taxpayers
Leonard Gilroy, Harris Kenny and Todd Davidson
January 28, 2013 - Gov. Brown Uses Tricks to 'Balance' CA Budget
Budget 'balanced' with tax hikes, smoke & mirrors
Leonard Gilroy
January 18, 2013 - Parks 2.0: Operating State Parks through Public-Private Partnerships
Leonard Gilroy and Harris Kenny
January 9, 2013, 8:00pm - Parks 2.0: Operating State Parks Through Public-Private Partnerships
Defining and applying the park operation public-private partnership (PPP) model.
Leonard Gilroy, Harris Kenny and Julian Morris
January 8, 2013 - ‘Yellow Pages Test’ Would Ease State, Local Budget Pains
Innovative governments applying competition to service delivery, public assets
John Palatiello and Leonard Gilroy
December 31, 2012 - Legislature Has the Chance to Set a Standard on 64
It is in policymakers' best interests to get this right—even if they didn’t support the initiative in the first place.
Harris Kenny and Leonard Gilroy
December 28, 2012 - Privatizing Lottery Management in Pennsylvania
Interview with Pete Tartline, Executive Deputy Secretary of the Budget, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Leonard Gilroy
December 20, 2012 - Why Colorado’s Marijuana Legalization Initiative Could Be In Vain
State policymakers need to develop sensible marijuana regulations, not destructive ones.
Harris Kenny and Leonard Gilroy
December 14, 2012 - Delivering Florida's 21st Century Transportation System Through Tolling, Managed Lanes and Public-Private Partnerships
Interview with Ananth Prasad, Secretary, Florida Department of Transportation
Leonard Gilroy
November 21, 2012 - Innovators in Action: FDOT Secretary Ananth Prasad on Delivering Florida's 21st Century Transportation System Through Tolling, Managed Lanes and Public-Private Partnerships
Leonard Gilroy
November 21, 2012, 9:00am - Innovators in Action: ODOT Director Jerry Wray on Addressing Ohio's Transportation Funding Challenges Through Streamlining, Public-Private Partnerships
Leonard Gilroy
November 13, 2012, 11:26am - Addressing Ohio's Transportation Funding Challenges Through Streamlining, Public-Private Partnerships
Interview with Jerry Wray, Director, Ohio Department of Transportation
Leonard Gilroy
November 13, 2012 - The Incremental Approach to Privatization
Incremental advances help build the case for longer-term privatization
Leonard Gilroy
October 3, 2012 - 21st Century Schools Require 21st Century Finance
Policymakers can improve - if not reinvent - the American education system.
Harris Kenny and Leonard Gilroy
September 28, 2012 - To Avoid Massive Tax Hikes, Privatize State Lotteries
An innovative new lottery privatization model is emerging.
Leonard Gilroy and Harris Kenny
August 30, 2012 - Innovators in Action: Making Phoenix a 24-Hour City--Privatizing City Permitting to Cut Red Tape and Drive Economic Development
Leonard Gilroy
July 31, 2012, 5:49pm - Making Phoenix a 24-Hour City: Privatizing City Permitting to Cut Red Tape and Drive Economic Development
Interview with Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio
Leonard Gilroy
July 31, 2012 - California Is Ground Zero for Muni Bankruptcies
When will lawmakers start rethinking how municipalities should operate?
Harris Kenny and Leonard Gilroy
July 26, 2012 - Ten Myths and Facts on Transportation Public-Private Partnerships
Addressing fears, misperceptions surrounding transportation PPPs in Ohio
Leonard Gilroy and Robert Poole
July 26, 2012
Out of Control Policy Blog 
- How to Avoid Closing Washington State Parks (5/17)
- Give Managed Lane Conversions Time (5/16)
- Why is the CDC Being Anti-Science on State Liquor Privatization? (5/14)
- Louisiana Republicans Introduce Bills to Replicate Massachusetts's Pro-Union, Anti-Privatization “Pacheco Law” (5/9)
- 40th Anniversary of the Rockefeller Drug Laws: Time to Re-think Sentencing Policy (5/8)
Latest From Reason
-
Obama Is Not Nixon
Equating the two is like concluding that babies are like poisonous snakes because some of them have rattles.
Steve Chapman (5/20)
-
A New Kind of Republican
Congressman Justin Amash discusses libertarian foreign policy, Austrian economics, civil liberties, abortion, and more.
Nick Gillespie (5/19)
-
Abolish the IRS (and the Income Tax With It)
No dissenter can ever rest assured he is safe from the arbitrary power of the IRS.
Sheldon Richman (5/19)
-
The IRS Abuse Scandal Keeps Growing
An audit of the agency’s behavior unearths disturbing new information.
M.D. Kittle (5/18)
-
Ag Gag Laws Sputtering
So-called "ag gag" laws unconstitutionally target farm whistleblowers. Two recent decisions have dealt a serious blow to these laws.
Baylen Linnekin (5/18)
Reason Events & Appearances
Lunch with John Hasnas at Reason: 5/22
May 22, 2013
The Reason Media Awards featuring the Bastiat Prize for Journalism
Nov 06, 2013
Reason Cruise 2014
Feb 09 - 16, 2014
Reason Weekend 2014
Apr 10 - 13, 2014
©2013 The Reason Foundation. All rights reserved.
5737 Mesmer Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90230 (310) 391-2245
Please email feedback@reason.org if you have questions about this Web site.

