In fall 2014, Mark Stutrud was fishing for salmon in Michigan’s Pere Marquette River when a colleague introduced an intriguing but fraught proposition: interviewing to become the CEO of Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI), the largest statewide social service agency in the state. As Stutrud...
In 2008, Walt Ekard, the Chief Administrative Officer for San Diego County, asked Nick Macchione,...
In 2011 and 2012, California Governor Jerry Brown issued a pair of executive orders that created...
In 2016, the Georgia Department of Administrative Services (DOAS) encountered what then-DOAS...
State governments are facing demands for new outcomes and public value, while navigating an environment that is unrelenting in disruption and change. For visionary leaders in government, this moment creates an opportunity to forge a bold path forward.
Future-oriented leaders understand that progress is neither simple nor turnkey. Achieving new levels of outcomes and value in government requires inventiveness, disciplined execution, and breakthroughs in both effectiveness and efficiency. This journey also requires steady leadership to guide economic and workforce impacts, and engage the stakeholders and constituents who make progress possible.
In 2015, Laura Zeilinger became director of Washington, D.C.’s Department of Human Services (DHS) and embarked on a journey to transform the District’s approach to supporting families at risk of or experiencing homelessness. A catalyst for the transformation was closing D.C. General, a homeless...
In 2019, Missouri’s 16 separate, hierarchical, state agencies were not well-equipped for the complex set of challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic would present. Drawing inspiration from General Stanley McChrystal’s ‘team of teams’ model, Missouri set-up a Fusion Cell to mobilize resources and...
