Tammy Halevy is Executive Director of Reimagine Main Street, a project of the Public Private Strategies Institute, and is a Senior Advisor at Public Private Strategies. Reimagine Main Street is an initiative focused on accelerating growth and opportunities for small businesses and the people they employ on MLK Boulevards, Chinatowns, Cesar Chavez Ways and Main Streets across the country. Reimagine Main Street is built around a cross-sector multi-stakeholder network, data driven insights, and engagement with business owners, business leaders, investors, and policymakers.

Tammy brings a rare combination of experience, skills and passion to this work. For more than twenty years, she has worked across Fortune 100 companies, small nonprofit organizations, philanthropy and government. Tammy spent nearly a decade as the Senior Vice President of New Initiatives at a national nonprofit organization focused on creating economic opportunity for underserved entrepreneurs. In this role, she published award-winning research reports, formed groundbreaking cross-sectoral partnerships, and launched a new company with $1M in seed money from a competitive Innovation Challenge sponsored by the US Treasury’s CDFI Fund. Tammy was also a consultant at McKinsey & Company, where as part of the corporate finance and strategy practices, she led client engagements and research projects primarily focused on reaching new markets and structuring complex partnerships. Early in her career she also held positions in the US House of Representatives, The Overseas Development Council, and Kroll Associates.

Tammy serves on the Board of 1863 Ventures, a Washington, DC-based accelerator for new majority entrepreneurs and the Advisory Board of Camino Financial, a fintech CDFI small business lender. 

She is a proud resident of the District of Columbia but still considers Texas as home.

James West is a Network Manager at Reimagine Main Street and an Associate at Public Private Strategies. James supports the research strategy, project management, and advisory work in Minority-Small Business Advocacy through PPS. His background in business and economic development has included analyzing resource and human management, business strategy, partnerships, fundraising, and decision-making. James has been employed by organizations concerned with researching and altering the economic and systemic issues that affect under-resourced communities.

While a student at Marymount University, James interned for the Department of Justice’s Justice Management Division in both Senior Executive Services and HR Policy & Advisory Services. In 2018, he served on the Alumni Board for the National Non-Profit Urban Alliance where he was a head of the fundraising committee and advised on professional development programs for under-resourced Washington DC students. James also received a research grant in Enlightenment Literature in 2018 from the National Endowment for the Humanities. He along with professors and colleagues helped develop an HTML and XML analytic coded project to create a broader

understanding of Enlightenment literature, while providing free digital accessibility to Enlightenment Literature for under-resourced students.

James’ commitment to equitable economic solutions has shown through in his employment at the Washington DC Economic Partnership and Carelife Medical where he served as an Executive Assistant to the President/CEO and Project Management Consultant, respectively. James grew up in Washington, DC. James received his bachelors degree in Economics from Marymount University.

Rhett Buttle is an Advisor at Reimagine Main Street, President of Public Private Strategies Institute, and Founder of Public Private Strategies (PPS).

PPS creates opportunities where the public and private sectors meet bringing together diverse allies including foundations, associations, corporations, small businesses, and entrepreneurs to solve pressing societal challenges. By harnessing the power of the private sector, PPS build coalitions, activate campaigns, and create strategic partnerships to drive desired policy and market outcomes.  Rhett is also a Senior Fellow at The Aspen Institute. In his role at Aspen, Rhett focuses his efforts on advancing the innovative Reconnecting Work and Wealth Initiative – a cutting edge effort at the Aspen Institute that engages several of the Institute’s largest policy programs and their stakeholder networks in an ambitious re-visioning of the ways that 21st Century labor and financial markets can deliver inclusive growth and shared prosperity. 

Before founding Public Private Strategies, Rhett was the Business Engagement Director at Hillary for America serving as Secretary Clinton’s liaison and private sector advisor during her run for President. Before joining the campaign, Rhett was President & Managing Director of a national business advocacy organization where he led an organization of over 25 people actively doing policy and advocacy work both nationally and in 10 states across the country.

In 2014, Rhett was appointed by President Obama to The White House Business Council and served as the Director of Private Sector Engagement in the Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this role, he was the main liaison between the department and the business community. He is an expert on healthcare policy issues as it relates to the employer community. He worked on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, public private partnerships for the Ebola response & the President’s Precision Medicine Initiative. He was a key player in the Administration’s effort to transform the healthcare system to one that is more focused on value and patient centered care. Buttle has also served in the Office of the President at George Washington University, in the Office of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and has worked on several presidential, state, and local campaigns.

Rhett frequently engages with the media and has been featured in the New York Times, CNN, WSJ and several business publications. He has spoken on business issues at the Aspen Institute, the Harvard Institute of Politics, and the Center for American Progress. He also serves on the boards of several organizations. Rhett holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of San Diego and a master’s degree from The George Washington University. In addition, he is active in many volunteer & professional organizations including American Legion Boys State. Rhett was born and raised in Las Vegas, NV. In 2016, he was honored by the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce as their Business Advocate of the Year.