Kent Briggs

Mr. Briggs is the Executive Director of the nonpartisan, nonprofit, Council of State Governments-WEST, one the four regional organizations of The Council of State Governments based in Lexington, Kentucky. CSG-WEST was established in San Francisco, California, in 1947 and is now based in Sacramento where it serves state legislators in the 13 western states through core programs that emphasize regional cooperation, policy development and leadership training. In addition to directing the Council, Mr. Briggs is also the principal staff to the WESTRENDS Board, one of the core programs of CSG-WEST that examines the economic, political and cultural trends shaping the West.

Prior to joining CSG-WEST in 1996, Briggs served as Executive Director for the Denver-based Center for the New West, a market-oriented research organization promoting balanced growth and development in the West. Before his tenure at the Center for the New West, he was academic vice-president of the American Institute of Applied Politics at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he drew on his experience as Chief of Staff to former Utah Governor Scott Matheson and Assistant for Intergovernmental Affairs for former Utah Governor Calvin Rampton.

Briggs received a BA from Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho, in 1966 and an MA from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1973.