Charles Peters, President

Charlie founded Understanding Government in 1999. He began his career as a staffer and later an elected member of the West Virginia state legislature, where he authored the law establishing that state’s civil service. He was appointed director of evaluation for the Peace Corps during the Kennedy Administration, a position which gave him insights into the workings of the federal government and the Washington bureaucracy. In 1969, he founded The Washington Monthly, a main goal of which was to investigate what the government was doing right and wrong and how it could do a better job. Over the years, the Monthly produced influential articles on subjects in government ranging from the Foreign Service to the Food and Drug Administration. Alumni of the Monthly have won Pulitzer prizes and many now work as reporters and editors at America’s leading newspapers, magazines, TV and radio news programs, websites and blogs. Charlie is the author of several books, including How Washington Really Works, now in its fourth edition, Blowing the Whistle (with Taylor Branch), The System (with James Fallows), and Inside the System, fifth edition (with Jonathan Alter), and, most recently, Five Days in Philadelphia: The Amazing “We Want Willkie!” Convention of 1940 and How It Freed FDR to Save the Western World. Presently Charlie is working on a book about Lyndon Johnson.

Edward Hodgman, Executive Director and Editor

Ned joined Understanding Government in 2007 following many years of entrepreneurship in the U.S. and abroad, as well as work in policy development in Washington. Fluent in Russian, Ned spent a number of years in the Soviet Union and Russia where he worked on both philanthropic and commercial ventures. Following a BA in Russian and Soviet Studies from Harvard, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked for the Federation of American Scientists and the Natural Resources Defense Council.  He then moved to Moscow, where he was involved in arms control and environmental projects and helped organize the first visit by freely-elected Soviet legislators to the U.S. Congress. Beginning in the early 1990s, he earned a Ph.D in American history at the University of Rochester, writing his dissertation on the role of human rights in U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War. He then focused on entrepreneurship, creating a consulting company for U.S. companies investing in Russia and, in 1999, a manufacturing operation with offices in Moscow and Kiev.  He returned to the Washington, D.C. area with his family in 2006.

Matthew Blake, Reporter

Matt joined Understanding Government in March 2008 as a reporter and researcher for a new in-depth report on the Consumer Product Safety Commission.  He reports and blogs on a range of issues for Understanding Government.  A graduate of Grinnell College and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, Matthew has worked for The Nation and the Chicago Reporter and was a founder of The Skeleton News, a monthly print newspaper on politics, the arts and culture in Chicago.  He is currently a fellow at the Center for Independent Media.

Ellen Ramachandran, Reporter

Ellen recently started working at Understanding Government and is currently focused on a special report on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).  Ellen is a graduate of Grinnell College, and to her BA in Political Science she has added extensive experience as a management consultant both in the United States and abroad, for both private corporations and government entities.  Clients she has advised include HHS, DOT, USAID, and several government organizations in India.