Dr. Redburn was the Project Director for the Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform, housed at the New America Foundation in 2010 and 2012. He helped the Commission analyze flaws in the federal government's budget process that have contributed to the current unsustainable fiscal situation and identify a set of recommended reforms to produce better budget outcomes in the future.

Dr. Redburn currently directs studies for the National Academy of Sciences. Mr. Redburn is a NAPA fellow and adjunct faculty member in the School of Public Policy and Public Administration at George Washington University. He served as a senior executive at the Office of Management and Budget until his retirement from the federal service in 2006. He worked in 2007 as advisor to the budget director of Kosovo for a USAID development project.

He has authored and edited numerous academic studies on the budget, public management, and a variety of public policy issues. His PhD in political science is from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.