Ben Birge has spent his career in the public policy arena at all levels of government with particular focus on budget and program management and analysis. Most recently he served as the manager of Prince George’s CountyStat, a team responsible for providing analysis and oversight to ensure county services are operating in an efficient, productive, and cost-effective manner. He has spent time on Capitol Hill and the Maryland State House as a higher education advocate and created numerous databases and workflow improvements as an analyst for the Maryland legislature. He has been civically involved with Anne Arundel County libraries, public schools and the Boy Scouts. He has lived in Anne Arundel County since 1991 and in Odenton since 2001.

Jennifer Purcell is responsible for overseeing the County Executive's staff including Constituent Services, Communications and Government Affairs. Prior to joining the administration, Jennifer served as a strategic planning, program development and grant consultant for several non-profit organizations after leaving a faculty position at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.  Jennifer earned her doctorate at the University of South Florida.

Peter Baron, Esq., brings nearly 20 years of experience in Maryland local and state government and politics. He is a former legislative director for both the Maryland Hospital Association and the Service Employees International Union, Maryland and DC State Council. He also served as Director of Member Services for Speaker Mike Busch. 

Kai Boggess-de Bruin is responsible for overseeing the county’s health and human service agencies. Kai is passionate about improving programs and ensuring all residents can easily access services when they are needed the most. Throughout her career, Kai has been a strong advocate for building the capacity of human services organizations to use data to inform decision making and performance improvement. Kai’s diverse background has included human services and information technology in the private, non-profit, and government sectors. Previously, Kai served as the Assistant Director of Quality Assurance and Compliance for the Prince George’s County Department of Social Services where she was responsible for overseeing performance management, corrective action planning, data analysis and reporting, and change management for all department programs. She also worked as the Director of Technical and Strategic Services for a technology firm, Obverse, Inc. and was the Director of Operations for a child placement agency. Kai holds a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Capella University and a Master’s Degree in Psychology from Regis University.  

Matthew Johnston analyzes environmental and sustainable policies for the County Executive’s Office. He previously served as the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Senior Environmental Policy Analyst where he worked with stakeholders across the Chesapeake Bay watershed to design solutions to combat environmental degradation. Matthew holds a graduate degree from Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs as well as undergraduate degrees from the University of Missouri. He is a proud resident of Anne Arundel County and a frequent visitor to its many trails, parks and kayak launches. 

Elizabeth Funsch is the manager for the newly formed ArundelStat.   ArundelStat will use a performance framework to strategically monitor, assess, and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of County services.  ArundelStat will also serve as an internal consultant to assist in specific and longer term strategic projects.  

Elizabeth most recently worked as a senior analyst for the CountyStat team in Prince George’s County where she oversaw the process for monitoring and shaping the government to be more efficient and productive.  Working closely with the health and human services departments, she coordinated efforts to develop, revise, and review performance measures and conducted trends analyses.

Elizabeth has over 7 years experience in evaluating programs at the State of Maryland Department of Mental Health and Hygiene and the Pima Prevention Partnership in Arizona.  Her focus in these roles was implementing processes that demonstrated performance and assessed outcomes. She also understands the challenges and rewards of working on the front line as a public benefit coordinator in the Washington DC region as well as serving as a health volunteer in rural Ecuador in the US Peace Corps.  Elizabeth holds a Master of Public Health and Master of Arts from the University of Arizona.

Derek Matthews was born and raised in Anne Arundel County.   Derek comes from a very diverse law enforcement career in the private sector, local, international and senior federal government level. He previously served as Assistant Police Chief for the City of Glen Arden Maryland, and Tactical Supervisor (SST/VIPER) at the Prince George’s County Office of the Sheriff. He is currently working on numerous special projects in the County Executive's Office including public safety recruiting, gun violence, and prison re-entry.  He is also assisting with special tasks like facilitating strong relationships with community organizations and various interest groups.

Alanna W. Dennis is responsible for providing general guidance, education, and diversity & inclusion training with respect to civil rights issues in employment and fair housing. She investigates both Title VI and Title VII complaints of alleged discrimination, harassment and/or retaliation involving County government employees.  She also serves as a resource to both Anne Arundel County residents and Anne Arundel County Departments regarding various equal opportunity issues, e.g.race, religion, sexual orientation, sex, ethnicity, age, disability, and any other characteristics protected by state, county and federal laws.  Alanna obtained her Master's in Business Management from Johns Hopkins University and her Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from The University of Texas School of Law at Austin. Alanna formerly served as the Director of Equity Compliance at Bowie State University, and was appointed as an Assistant Attorney General with Maryland's Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation for 10 years.  Alanna brings to Anne Arundel County more than a decade of experience in EEO compliance, dispute resolution, and investigations.

Maria Casasco is responsible for providing leadership, guidance and support for all executive branch departments to ensure consistent and effective implementation of the county’s Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Plan, policies and practices, throughout County government departments. The purpose of the county’s Language Access and Limited English Proficiency Plan is to provide meaningful communication with LEP persons as mandated in state and federal laws (e.g., Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964), and ensure compliance with the laws and the county’s developed policies, as well as the county demonstrating readiness to communicate and serve all residents.

She developed a Language Access Survey to identify each department’s strengths and weaknesses by providing language assistance including staff awareness, language needs, and multilingual capacity.

For more than 25 years, Ms. Casasco has been with Anne Arundel County Government, attending to the needs of the immigrant community. She previously worked for the Anne Arundel County Department of Health to reduce health disparities in Hispanic American communities. In 2007, she was appointed to the Office of the County Executive to lead the county’s efforts to connect the growing immigrant population to services and programs to ensure a smooth transition to the American way of life.

Ms. Casasco holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology from John F. Kennedy University, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.