Indiana Office of Management and Budget Internship

by Neil Broshears
Second Year MPA, Public Financial Administration

After initially applying and interviewing for the Indiana Governor’s Office Internship Program, I was redirected to a second round of  interviews with Adam Horst, Indiana Budget Director, and Chris Ruhl,  Director of the Indiana Office of Management and Budget.   Shortly thereafter, they brought me on board as an intern in their office.  My responsibilities primary involved assisting Budget Agency tax analysts with the state revenue forecasting process.  I also participated in a number of other interesting and meaningful projects.  I provided Adam with recommendations for improving the Indiana Transparency Portal, an inside look into Indiana State Government spending and operations.  I did some work refining the Indiana Employee Retirement Benefits Account Plan website in hopes of making the website more informative to state employees.  Finally, I aided the Director of Government Efficiency and Financial Planning in establishing and implementing a monitoring plan for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds going to Indiana Universities.  This included site visits to Notre Dame and Purdue.

I also received the opportunity to leave the office for a number of trips and meetings.  During the beginning of August, I attended an Indiana Budget Committee trip to Ball State University with analysts, legislators and an assortment of Budget Agency officials.  The orchestrator of the Governor’s Office Internship Program was nice enough to also include me in their trips; we visited Camp Atterbury, the Indiana Women’s Prison, the Governor’s Mansion and the State Fairgrounds.  Lastly, Adam also included me in quarterly performance meetings with the directors of most state agencies.

Interestingly enough, my internship also allowed me to meet Governor Mitch Daniels on two occasions, which I found to be, both, exciting and informative!