Steve Watson

Steve Watson has nearly two decades of experience in state and local government, advising public officials, balancing budgets, and solving problems through times of fiscal stress, recovery, and growth. As Budget Director & Deputy CFO for the City of Detroit, he led advances in data-driven financial planning and analysis following the largest municipal bankruptcy in history. He helped rebuild the City’s finance team and reinvent how it budgets with multi-year forecasts and strategies.

Steve led the preparation and implementation of a structurally balanced $2.7 billion annual budget and four-year financial plan that delivers sustainable service enhancements, capital investments, and quality of life improvements for residents. He established an ongoing Detroit economic analysis partnership with Michigan’s public universities to inform revenue forecasts and economic policy. He advised on internet gaming and sports betting legislation, yielding $100 million in new annual revenue. He helped lead the City’s financial response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including revenue loss estimates and budget solutions to close the gap. Steve designed and implemented an innovative budget strategy for the City’s “pension cliff” from the bankruptcy restructuring plan, resulting in release from State oversight, return to investment grade credit, and resumption of annual pension contributions in 2024.

Earlier in his career, Steve served as a State Budget Analyst and later Manager for the New Jersey Office of Management Budget, providing state leaders with effective budget and program analysis from the Great Recession through recovery. He left New Jersey in 2015 to return home to Michigan and serve as the inaugural staff for the Detroit Financial Review Commission, the oversight board established after the City’s bankruptcy and the school district’s restructuring.

He holds an MPA from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and a BA, with Distinction, from the University of Michigan. He grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.