NPRI Staff


Sharon J. Rossie
President Emeritus
Contact: sr at npri.org

Sharon Rossie returned to the Nevada Policy Research Institute to serve as its president from September 2006 to September 2011. Under her leadership, NPRI grew from a staff of three to a staff of 12. Sharon, who previously served as NPRI's director of development before a three-year hiatus, has an extensive background in both business and nonprofit management.

Sharon was a successful administrator and fundraiser with the Boys & Girls Club, the American Cancer Society, the University of California, Irvine's College of Medicine and School of Humanities, as well as at a private elementary school.  She has been a business owner and served on several community boards.

Raised and educated in Canada, Sharon became a proud citizen of the United States in 1973.  She has two grown children, Charles and Christina.

Steven Miller
Vice President Policy
Contact: sm at npri.org

Steven Miller is vice president for policy at NPRI and has been full-time with the Institute since 1997. Steven oversees public policy research, including the Institute's studies, conferences, commentaries and in-depth research projects.

Steven graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Philosophy from Claremont Men's College (now Claremont McKenna). Before joining NPRI, Steven worked as a news reporter in California and Nevada, and a political cartoonist in Nevada, Hawaii and North Carolina. For 10 years he ran a successful commercial illustration studio in New York City, then for five years worked at First Boston Credit Suisse in New York as a technical analyst. After returning to Nevada in 1991, Steven worked as an investigative reporter before joining NPRI.

Read Steven Miller's published work here.

Andy Matthews
President
Contact: am at npri.org

Andy Matthews is the president of NPRI and has been with the Institute since February 2007.  Andy is the fourth president in NPRI's history. He joined NPRI in February 2007 as its communications director and became a vice president at the Institute in 2008.

Andy has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Boston University's College of Communication, where he graduated in 2000.  After working for several years as a sports writer and editor for Fox Sports and MLB.com, Andy entered politics in 2005 and worked on political campaigns over a two-year span, first in New Jersey and then in Nevada beginning in 2006.  

Read Andy Matthews' published work here.

Geoffrey Lawrence
Deputy Director of Policy
Contact: gl at npri.org

Geoffrey Lawrence is the deputy director of policy at NPRI. Geoffrey is a frequent commentator on public policy in print, radio and television news in Nevada and his work appears regularly in publications around the state and the nation. He is noted for having developed comprehensive proposals for reform of the state revenue structure, budgeting methods and spending habits.

Geoffrey holds an M.A. in International Economic Policy from American University and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where he was honored as the political science department's "Most Outstanding Senior" and was an award-winning athlete. Prior to joining NPRI, Geoffrey spent two years as a research assistant at the John Locke Foundation in North Carolina where he focused on energy policy.

Read Geoffrey Lawrence's published work here.

Eric Davis
Media Specialist
ed at npri.org

Eric Davis serves as media specialist for NPRI. Eric is in charge of updating and maintaining NPRI's websites along with being the lead developer of TransparentNevada, Nevada Journal and TweetNevada.

Eric holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and has been with the Institute since 2007.

He writes on the issue of open government on the TransparentNevada Blog.

Victor Joecks
Communications Director
Contact: vj at npri.org

Victor Joecks is communications director at NPRI and has been with the Institute since January 2009. Victor is also in charge of new media at NPRI.

Victor holds bachelor's degrees in history and math from Hillsdale College, where he graduated with honors. Prior to joining NPRI, he worked at the Evergreen Freedom Foundation in Washington state, where he wrote about budget and tax policy and was a part of the communications staff. Victor joined the Army National Guard in 2007, and graduated from the Defense Information School as his class' top broadcast journalist.

Read Victor Joecks' published work here. 

Jared Carl
Development Officer
Contact: jc at npri.org

Jared Carl serves as a development officer at NPRI. Jared earned a B.A. in Political Science and Religion from Hillsdale College and completed Master's coursework in Theology at the University of Dallas.

Prior to joining NPRI, Jared taught high school theology and philosophy at The Highlands School in Irving, Texas, and worked as an Account Executive at a Dallas-based marketing agency. In addition, Jared has experience in political campaign strategy and execution as well as fundraising, event planning and database-management experience. 

Karen Gray 
Education Researcher
Contact: kg at npri.org

Karen Gray is an education researcher at NPRI and has been with the Institute since June 2008.  Karen has an associate's degree in legal assistance from the Community College of Southern Nevada (now the College of Southern Nevada). 

Prior to joining NPRI, Karen spent 17 years as a parent in the Clark County School District, serving on various district committees and parent groups.  As an independent education advocate and paralegal, Karen assisted parents and attorneys in advocating for students with school district administration and the board of trustees and in special-education legal proceedings. As part of her efforts to promote open government, Karen regularly monitored the Clark County school board, lobbied for transparency legislation and pursued public-records litigation.

Read Karen Gray's published work here.

Patricia Andrews
Executive Assistant
Contact: office at npri.org

Patricia has lived in Las Vegas for more than 50 years. She graduated from Las Vegas High School in 1973 and has been married to her high school sweetheart for 31 years. Patricia is the proud mother of two children, Erin and Kyle. She has worked as an executive assistant for 30 years, starting with a real estate office in 1978.