- Derek KreifelsChief Executive Officer
Derek Kreifels is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF), the only nonprofit in the U.S. that combines ground-breaking free-market research with a strong network of states’ treasurers, auditors, and other financial officers, to actively sustain the health of each state’s economic outlook.
Before co-founding SFOF in 2012, Kreifels spent five years as Assistant State Treasurer of Kansas, where he oversaw the state’s college savings plan, ABLE plan, debt and bond management, and pension investments. During his tenure, his office processed over $21B annually, and he managed 42 employees with an annual budget of over $3.5M.
Kreifels attended Kansas State University, received his undergraduate degree from Wichita State University, and his Master’s degree from Friends University in Wichita. He lends his leadership to several boards and nonprofits. He and his wife Melanie are diehard Kansas City Chiefs fans, enjoy excellent Kansas City BBQ, and love spending time with family. - Melanie KreifelsDirector of OperationsMelanie KreifelsDirector of Operations
Melanie Kreifels serves as SFOF's operations manager.
She works behind the scenes to make sure that our national meetings are executed well dealing with all of the behind-the-scenes details. From hotel reservations to catering and venue management, Melanie is the person that makes all the magic happen!
Melanie also helps with SFOF's day-to-day clerical, book keeping and invoicing duties.
Melanie and Derek live in the Kansas City area. She enjoys spending time with family and touring the countryside to gaze at old barns. Melanie is a graduate of the University of Central Missouri and received her Master's degree from Mid America Nazarene University. She is also a licensed therapist.
- Adam SlaytonExecutive Assistant to the CEOAdam SlaytonExecutive Assistant to the CEO
Adam Slayton serves as the Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer of the State Financial Officers Foundation. Adam is a 2022 graduate of the University of Missouri - Columbia, where he studied Agriculture Economics. Adam has a wide background, including serving as an intern in the Missouri State Treasurer's Office, under Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick.
Other work includes experiences in agricultural economics, insurance, and event management. A native of rural Missouri, Adam is an avid St. Louis Cardinals and Missouri Tigers fan. He also enjoys spending time outdoors and traveling.
- Jonathan WilliamsSenior Policy Advisor
Biography
Jonathan Williams is the Senior Policy Advisor to SFOF and the Chief Economist and Executive Vice President of Policy at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), where he works with state policymakers, congressional leaders, and members of the private sector to develop fiscal policy solutions for the states. Williams founded the ALEC Center for State Fiscal Reform in 2011 and co-authors Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer Economic State Competitiveness Index with Reagan economist Dr. Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore. Prior to joining ALEC, Williams served as staff economist at the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, authoring numerous tax policy studies.
Williams’ work has appeared in many publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Financial Times, Toronto Star and Investor’s Business Daily. He is a contributor for The Hill and a columnist at Tax Analysts, the leading provider of tax news and analysis for the global community. Williams also serves on the Advisory Board of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) and as an adjunct fellow at the Kansas Policy Institute. He has written for the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. In addition, Williams was a contributing author of In Defense of Capitalism (Northwood University Press).
Williams has spoken to audiences across all 50 states and provided testimony for the U.S. Congress, as well as numerous state legislative bodies. His work has been featured at the federal level by The White House, the Congressional Joint Economic Committee and the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means. He is a frequent guest on talk radio shows and has appeared on numerous television outlets, including the PBS NewsHour, Fox Business News and Bloomberg News. Williams was also the recipient of the prestigious Ludwig von Mises Award in Economics.
- Carrie SheffieldFellow, SFOF Center for Economic Freedom
Carrie Sheffield is a senior policy analyst at Independent Women’s Voice, a Fellow at The State Financial Officers Foundation and a contributor for Daily Caller. She earned a master’s in public policy from Harvard University, concentrating in business policy. She earned a B.A. in communications at Brigham Young University and completed a Fulbright fellowship in Berlin. Carrie managed municipal credit risk at Goldman Sachs and rated healthcare bonds at Moody’s Investors Service. She later researched for American Enterprise Institute economics scholar Edward Conard and served as Warren Brookes Journalism Fellow at Competitive Enterprise Institute. While serving as executive director for Generation Opportunity, a project of Americans For Prosperity, she spoke at the U.S. Senate alongside key senators in favor of landmark tax reforms passed by Congress in 2017.
Carrie covered Congress for The Hill and was a founding reporter at POLITICO. She won a Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship and contributed on political economy at Forbes, wrote editorials for The Washington Times under Tony Blankley and advised the digital Millennial women’s site Bustle.com. Carrie has published in The Wall Street Journal, TIME, USA Today, CNN Opinion, The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Review, The D.C. Examiner, Newsweek, HuffPost, and Daily Caller.
As the founder of Bold TV, a digital media network featuring newsmakers across politics, business and lifestyle news, Carrie’s work has been recognized in profiles by The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Harvard University, CNN, Columbia Journalism Review, Sirius XM, The American Conservative and Metropolitan Magazine.
A frequent guest on Fox News and Fox Business Network, Carrie provided analysis for Fox News’ first 2016 GOP presidential primary debate. She co-moderated a U.S. House congressional debate in Harlem and debated healthcare policy with Tom Brokaw on MSNBC under host Chuck Todd the night of the 2016 Vice Presidential debate. Carrie fought for life during CNN’s on-air coverage the night SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade. She analyzed the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner as a CNN on-air guest, encouraged 2018 midterm voter turnout for ABC’s “Good Morning America,” and live-tweeted for CNN Opinion on Election Day 2018. She analyzed the 2014 Election Day results on MSNBC, interviewed House Speaker Paul Ryan on the mainstage of the 2016 Conservative Political Action Conference airing live on CSPAN and defended the rights of Afghan women on The Ben Shapiro Show. On the lighter side, she sparred on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” and got a ribbing from John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight,” and Trevor Noah of “The Daily Show.”
In foreign affairs, Carrie reported on the 25th anniversary of perestroika in Moscow, North-South Korean relations from Seoul and the DMZ, and covered the Beijing Olympics in China. Carrie was a correspondent for The Jerusalem Post covering the Israeli parliament and covered Egyptian political reforms in Cairo–including an interview at the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters. She also wrote on geopolitical positioning and freedom of speech in Qatar and Japanese political, economic and national security reforms.
Carrie is a member of the Harvard Christian Alumni Society and the National Press Club. A 2018 winner of the William F. Buckley Awards by America’s Future Foundation, Carrie is listed in Maverick PAC’s “Future 40” 2019 class of influential young conservatives and named a Most Inspiring New Yorker by Bumble, a social connection app with more than 55 million global users.
