Bryna Helfer
Senior Director of Civic Engagement, National Academy of Public Administration

Bryna Helfer is the Senior Director of Civic Engagement. Bryna’s primary focus is on Budgetball, a new fiscal sport to engage youth in the issues related to our fiscal future. She also works closely with the Collaboration Project and other NAPA Initiatives to build community and stakeholder engagement.

Bryna has over 25 years of experience initiating, leading, and facilitating interagency coordination, program development, strategic planning, program evaluation, and systems change initiatives. She has a long history of coalition building at the federal, state, and local levels, and is known for her ability to forge partnerships between governmental programs and community based organizations. Her federal experience includes the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the Federal Transit Administration. From 2002-2007, Bryna served as a senior staff advisor for the Federal Interagency Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility, leading a successful effort to coordinate policies, programs and services across eleven federal departments to enhance transportation services for people with disabilities, older adults, and individuals with lower incomes. The U.S. Department of Transportation presented Bryna with its Meritorious Service Award for this work and its Gold Medal Award for her efforts in Gulf Coast recovery after Hurricane Katrina.

Bryna has been instrumental in implementing innovative solutions for difficult challenges during her leadership roles in the development and implementation of the National Resource Center for Emergency Medical Services for Children, the Traumatic Brain Injury Technical Assistance Center, and Project ACTION (Accessible Transportation in our Nation). As a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist, Bryna also has a long history of using recreation and games as a medium to effect change.

She received a Doctorate Degree in Education from The George Washington University; a Masters Degree in Rehabilitation Services from George Mason University and a Bachelors Degree from Ohio University in Therapeutic Recreation.