Daphne A. Kenyon, Ph.D., is an accomplished economist, public finance expert, researcher, educator, consultant, and board leader whose career spans more than four decades across academia, government, nonprofit organizations, public policy, and advisory work. Her professional life has been defined by an ability to translate complex economic and fiscal questions into practical insights for decision-makers. With particular expertise in state and local public finance, property taxation, tax policy, education finance, fiscal federalism, and economic analysis, Daphne brings both intellectual rigor and a collaborative perspective to organizations confronting consequential financial and strategic decisions. She has worked with policymakers, researchers, educators, nonprofit leaders, and government officials throughout her career, developing a reputation for thoughtful analysis, informed dialogue, and a commitment to using evidence to improve decision-making.

Daphne currently serves as Principal of D. A. Kenyon & Associates, an economics consulting practice she founded to provide analysis of public policy issues, including education finance and health policy. Her consulting work reflects a career-long ability to operate at the intersection of economics, policy, organizational strategy, and public impact. 

Daphne previously spent 17 years in the Tax and Valuation Department of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. The Lincoln Institute is a private operating foundation, sometimes referred to as a “think tank,” with a global reach that was established in 1974 to improve quality of life through the effective use, taxation, and stewardship of land. The Tax Department is considered the intellectual heart of the Lincoln Institute. While at Lincoln, Daphne conducted research, managed consulting projects, organized conferences, and reviewed grant proposals. Daphne co-authored several reports on the property tax that were broadly used by policymakers and faculty in public policy and economics departments. These reports explored the connection between the property tax and business tax incentives, nonprofits, and school funding, among other topics. Her research was referenced in The Economist, The New York Times, and many other newspapers. Daphne secured funding and directed consulting studies on economic development incentives in Ohio and on property tax policy in South Carolina. Together with staff at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Public Policy Center, she organized and moderated conferences for legislators in the New England states on “Economic Perspectives on State and Local Taxes.” She proposed, co-organized, and moderated an annual mentoring program for young professionals in public finance. She also initiated and was the first director of State-by-State Property Tax at a Glance, an interactive web-based resource examining property taxation across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Her expertise is grounded in an unusually diverse professional journey. Earlier in her career, Daphne served as a Financial Economist in the Office of Tax Analysis at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, providing analytical support during legislative consideration of the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Her responsibilities included analysis involving nonprofit organizations, federal deductibility of state and local taxes, tax-exempt bonds, and state and local tax developments. She also served as a Senior Analyst with the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations and as a Senior Research Associate at the Urban Institute, where she designed, managed, analyzed, and communicated research concerning the economics of state and local government. These experiences gave her a close view of how economic research, fiscal realities, institutional priorities, and public policy intersect.

Education and intellectual leadership have been equally important threads throughout Daphne’s career. She served as a professor of economics at Simmons University, including three years as Chair of the Economics Department, where her responsibilities extended beyond teaching to faculty leadership, curriculum planning, budgeting, hiring, and interdisciplinary program development. Her teaching covered subjects including econometrics, quantitative methods, public economics, health economics, microeconomics, and macroeconomics. She later served as an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management, teaching economics to MBA students pursuing careers in the nonprofit and social-impact sectors. Her experience as both professor and practitioner has strengthened her ability to make sophisticated economic concepts understandable and relevant to audiences with different levels of technical expertise.
Daphne has also demonstrated significant executive leadership outside the classroom. As President of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, she became the independent, nonpartisan New Hampshire think tank’s first paid chief executive. Reporting to a 17-member board, she was responsible for program development, budgeting, fundraising strategy, proposal writing, personnel and contractor management, conferences, research, publications, media relations, and organizational administration. That experience complemented her academic and analytical capabilities with direct responsibility for organizational operations and stakeholder engagement, providing her with a practical understanding of the demands facing executive teams and governing boards.

Board leadership has been a consistent dimension of Daphne’s professional service. She has served on the Advisory Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s New England Public Policy Center; the New Hampshire State Board of Education; the Windham, New Hampshire School Board; and the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession of the American Economic Association. She was the New Hampshire Delegate to the Education Commission of the States. She was a board member, Vice President, and President of the New England Economic Project, a member-supported, non-profit organization dedicated to providing objective macroeconomic forecasts and analyses.

Her most extensive board experience has been in connection with the National Tax Association. Founded in 1907, the National Tax Association (NTA) serves as the leading association of scholars and professionals dedicated to advancing the theory and practice of public finance, including public taxing, spending, and borrowing. The NTA hosts two annual conferences for its 600+ members, which include federal and state legislators, administrators and policy analysts, taxpayer representatives, practicing lawyers and accountants, and professors of economics, law, and accounting. It also publishes an academic journal, the National Tax Journal. Daphne served as NTA President in 2023 and as a member of the board of directors from 1996 to 1999 and from 2018 to 2025. 

The NTA President appoints conference chairs, assigns members to the various committees, and together with the executive committee, meets with the management company biweekly to conduct NTA business. While she was President, Daphne established a Sponsorship Committee which helped turn an operating deficit into a surplus and initiated an orientation program for new board members. When the management company proposed a 50 percent increase in fees, Daphne initiated a search process which led to the hiring of a new management company with broader association management skills and more modest fee requirements.

Daphne’s governance experience has exposed her to questions of oversight, institutional priorities, public accountability, budgeting, education, research, and stakeholder interests. It has also reinforced something central to her approach to leadership: effective boards benefit from informed individuals who can bring independent expertise to the table while working constructively as part of a group.

Research and thought leadership further distinguish Daphne’s career. She has authored and co-authored an extensive body of scholarship on property taxation, education finance, tax incentives, nonprofit taxation, state and local government finance, fiscal federalism, and related economic issues. Her more recent work includes “Reflections on the U.S. Property Tax: Past, Present, and Future,” published in the National Tax Journal in 2024, and Rethinking the Property Tax–School Funding Dilemma (a second edition), co-authored with Bethany P. Paquin and Andrew Reschovsky. Her broader publication record includes books, policy reports, journal articles, encyclopedia contributions, and applied research designed for both scholarly and policymaking audiences. This body of work reflects not only subject-matter expertise but also a sustained commitment to examining how fiscal systems influence institutions, communities, taxpayers, and economic outcomes.

Daphne is equally comfortable bringing research beyond the written page. Over the course of her career, she has addressed policymakers, state and local government officials, professional associations, researchers, educators, journalists, and other stakeholders. Her presentations have covered subjects ranging from property taxation and municipal fiscal health to economic development, education finance, tax incentives, and the effects of federal policy changes on state and local government finances. Recent engagements have included moderating and organizing National Tax Association conference sessions and participating in discussions concerning public finance and local revenue options. Her background as a professor has further shaped a communication style centered on explanation, careful reasoning, constructive questioning, and making complex material accessible.

Her academic foundation is equally distinguished. Daphne earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan after receiving her B.A. in Economics from Michigan State University. She was also the recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship and a National Merit Scholarship. Her professional capabilities span economics, macroeconomics, public finance, policy analysis, research, econometrics, statistics, quantitative analysis, data analysis, public speaking, and economic development. These skills allow her to examine organizational questions from multiple perspectives—looking not simply at immediate financial outcomes, but also at incentives, public policy implications, long-term economic conditions, and the broader systems in which organizations operate.

While Daphne has extensive exposure to public and nonprofit governance, she is particularly interested in bringing that experience to private-sector board opportunities. Education and healthcare are among the industries of greatest interest to her, although she remains open to organizations of varying sizes and stages. She views board service as both a responsibility and a collaborative endeavor—an opportunity to combine individual expertise with the perspectives of other accomplished professionals. Her background positions her to contribute particularly to conversations involving economic conditions, taxation, fiscal strategy, public policy, research, education, organizational governance, and the external forces capable of affecting long-term planning.

Daphne’s professional perspective has also been informed by international exposure, including experience making presentations and participating in conferences in  Brazil, Slovenia, Italy, Mexico, and Germany, while her primary professional interest remains domestic. Across those experiences and her extensive work in the United States, a consistent theme has emerged: tax structures, education systems, government policy, organizational incentives, demographic conditions, and macroeconomic forces interact in ways that can materially affect institutions and the communities they serve. Daphne’s ability to understand these relationships gives her a valuable systems-level perspective for boardrooms seeking to evaluate both immediate decisions and their longer-term implications.

At this stage of her career, Daphne brings to board service a rare combination of scholarship, operating experience, governance exposure, public-sector understanding, and intellectual independence. She has spent decades researching difficult questions, teaching others how to think critically about economics, advising policymakers, managing organizations and projects, and collaborating with professionals holding diverse viewpoints. She values the structure and collective experience of effective boards and is motivated by the opportunity to apply her expertise in new organizational environments. For companies seeking a director or advisor who can add depth to discussions of economics, fiscal policy, education, taxation, research, and governance while remaining committed to collaborative decision-making, Daphne offers a seasoned and multidimensional perspective.

Character:
Daphne approaches leadership with intellectual integrity, curiosity, professionalism, and respect for the collective nature of governance. Her sustained commitment to education, research, public service, and nonprofit leadership demonstrates a desire to apply expertise in ways that contribute meaningfully to institutions and the people they serve.

Knowledge:
With more than four decades of experience, a Ph.D. in Economics, an extensive publication record, and professional experience spanning academia, government, consulting, and nonprofit organizations, Daphne possesses deep knowledge of economics and public finance. Her expertise in taxation, property tax, education finance, fiscal federalism, research, and policy analysis enables her to bring informed context to complex strategic conversations.

Strategic:
Daphne sees organizational challenges within their broader economic, fiscal, regulatory, and institutional environments, allowing her to consider both immediate consequences and longer-term implications. Her experience directing research, managing organizations and projects, advising policymakers, and participating in governance provides a strong foundation for asking disciplined questions and contributing to evidence-based strategy.

Communication:
Decades spent as a professor, researcher, author, presenter, executive, and board member have made communication a defining element of Daphne’s professional career. She is experienced in translating sophisticated economic and policy concepts for policymakers, students, government officials, professional audiences, and fellow leaders, helping diverse stakeholders engage productively with complex issues.