History

Director Biographies

Directors 2002 - 2012

Robert M. Groves (2009 - 2012): Prior to leading the Census Bureau, Groves was a professor at the University of Michigan and director of its Survey Research Center, as well as research professor at the Joint Program in Survey Methodology at the University of Maryland.

Groves authored or co-authored seven books and scores of scientific articles. His 1989 book, Survey Errors and Survey Costs, was named one of the 50 most influential books in survey research by the American Association of Public Opinion Research. His book, Nonresponse in Household Interview Surveys, with Mick Couper, written during his time at the Census Bureau, received the 2008 AAPOR Book Award.

He is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Statistical Association, and the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research. He is an elected member of the International Statistical Institute and a National Associate of the National Research Council, U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

He is the recipient of the Innovator Award and the distinguished achievement award of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, the O'Neill Award of the New York Association for Public Opinion Research, the Helen Dinerman Award of the World Association for Public Opinion Research, and Julius Shiskin Memorial Award of the National Association of Business Economics and the American Statistical Association, in recognition of contributions in the development of economic statistics.

Groves has a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College and master's degrees in statistics and sociology from the University of Michigan. He also earned his doctorate at Michigan.

Steve H. Murdock (2008 - 2009): Dr. Murdock studied sociology at North Dakota State University before going on to earn a master's degree and doctorate in the subject from the University of Kentucky in 1975. He taught at North Dakota State before joining the faculty at Texas A&M University in 1977.

The first official state demographer of Texas, Dr. Murdock headed the Texas State Data Center and Texas Population Estimates and Projections Program for more than 25 years taking a leadership role in the state's coordination activities in the 1980, 1990, and 2000 decennial censuses.

He joined the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2004. In 2007, he took a position at Rice University, specializing in applied demography, migration, rural sociology, and socioeconomic impact assessment.

Dr. Murdock is the author of 12 books and more than 150 articles and technical reports. He received a Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award from Texas A&M University, the Excellence in Research Award from the Rural Sociological Society and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Department of Sociology at the University of Kentucky.

President George W. Bush nominated Steve H. Murdock for director of the U.S. Census Bureau on June 18, 2007, and the Senate confirmed him unanimously in December of that year. He officially became director of the Census Bureau on January 4, 2008 and vacated the position January 9, 2009.

Charles Louis Kincannon (2002 - 2008): A native of Waco, TX, Charles Kincannon began his career as a statistician in the Census Bureau in 1963. He held positions of increasing responsibility at the Census Bureau until becoming chief of the program review staff in the Commerce Department's Social and Economic Statistics Administration in 1974. The following year, he joined the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), where he served initially as statistical liaison to Vice President Nelson Rockefeller's office.

Kincannon returned to the Census Bureau in 1981, coming on as deputy director. He became chief operating officer in 1982, continuing in that post for a decade. He served as acting director from July 1983 to March 1984 and again from January to December 1989. During the latter period, he directed final preparations for the 1990 census.

From 1992 to 2000, Kincannon held the position of chief statistician for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, an economic research organization for the world's major industrial democracies. In this role, he worked to strengthen and reform the organization's statistical work to better respond to post-Cold War needs in Europe and rapid economic integration.

He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and did postgraduate study in statistics and economics at George Washington University, Georgetown University and the University of Maryland. Kincannon died in 2012.