StateStat is part of a broader, growing movement of “Stat” initiatives. It all started in the early 1990s when the New York City Policy Department, under William Bratton, launched CompStat. Martin O’Malley took the idea to the city level as mayor of Baltimore with CitiStat — an initiative that won the 2004 Innovations in American Government award.
When O’Malley became Governor in 2007, he launched StateStat. State agencies come to StateStat meetings twice a month, on average, reviewing their performance and discussing efforts to improve their results.
At the time of this interview, Beth Blauer was the Director of StateStat in Maryland for Governor Martin O’Malley. In her role she oversaw the StateStat process, covering 14 state agencies that comprise 85% of the state budget. A Maryland native and a lawyer by training, she served in Maryland state government for a decade and was StateStat’s director since 2008. In August 2012 she left Maryland government to begin a new role in the private sector.