After 14 years of developing CTG into a world leader in digital government research and practice, CTG founding director Sharon Dawes will be transitioning into a new role at the Center. Starting in September Sharon will be senior fellow and devote her expertise and energy to expanding new opportunities for CTG in international research, education, and community-building programs. In addition to her continuing work at CTG, she will remain on the faculties of Public Administration and Policy and Informatics, as well as continue to serve on a variety of national and international advisory boards.

During this transition, CTG will be led by Dr. Anthony Cresswell, currently deputy director, who will serve as interim director. Tony has been an integral part of CTG’s leadership team since 1999, and has directed many research and development projects with state, federal, and international funding. Among his most recent works is an internationally recognized project on assessing the public value of government IT investments.

While director, Sharon built a talented staff, developed close working relationships with government leaders, and brought in over $6 million in external research funding for projects that included the assessment of New York State’s IT workforce skills, information sharing and integration for public safety, and the information coordination responses to the World Trade Center attack. Over the past several years, she has developed a growing portfolio of international work, involving the National Science Foundation, ,the European Commission, the United Nations, and partnerships in China, the UK, Portugal, and elsewhere.

In CTG’s 2006 Annual Report, Sharon described the value of international work: “All of these opportunities bring with them the rare chance to think globally and locally at the same time. While our research in the US is well-established, our links to partners in other parts of the world inevitably add rich new dimensions and broader context to our work. In return, our research methods and results often have value to researchers who are tackling similar questions in other places. Most importantly, these ventures are helping to build a set of long-lasting mutually beneficial relationships that are laying the foundation for what we hope will be a sustainable international digital government community.”