The year was 1992. Carl Helstrom got on a plane to Colorado Springs to attend State Policy Network’s first Annual Meeting, hosted by the Coors Foundation. It wasn’t the image you’d expect to see from attending one of our recent meetings (a room of 1,500 leaders from 500 organizations in all 50 states).

At the time, there were only 12 think tanks that made up our Network, or what Carl liked to call the “Dirty Dozen.” Carl came to Colorado as an advisor from the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, now called the Atlas Network, based on his work supporting international think tanks as they fought to preserve freedom and opportunity abroad. As he watched these scrappy organizations come together, coalescing around a common vision, he knew it was the start of something special. It was time to apply what he’d learned from Atlas into building a Network for freedom stateside alongside SPN’s founder, Thomas Roe.

Carl got to know Tracie Sharp, who was head of Oregon’s state think tank, the Cascade Policy Institute, and among the tight-knit group of leaders in the early days of SPN. Together, they decided to get more involved and join the SPN board. Tracie became the President and CEO of SPN in 1999—the same year Carl became chairman of the board. After Thomas Roe passed away in 2000, Carl and Tracie carried the torch forward for the next 25 years.

“SPN’s success over the years can be traced back to Carl’s early work with our staff leadership to restructure the organization and enact bylaws that positioned us to be more effective,” said Tracie. “It was that essential foundation from which SPN’s uniquely valuable services and resources have supplied and helped to build this influential and growing Network.”

Carl and Tracie paved the way for what is now a robust Network of powerhouse defenders of freedom across the country. Today, there are 62 state-based think tanks and more than 100 national partners in the Network. There are over 1,000 full-time Network affiliate staff with combined revenues exceeding $194 million per year. Today, SPN has grown to a $27 million organization with $10 million in targeted investments going directly to Network partners each year.

“What’s been great about this growth is that it happened organically. We took a peer-driven approach, brought people together, and it grew faster than we ever expected,” said Carl. “Part of our secret sauce is collegiality and diplomacy. It continues to be a huge part of our success sequence. We are listening, we are not telling people what to do, and we help everyone become better, faster, and stronger in the process.”

Carl has been at the helm of shifts within SPN and the greater Network. He worked with early CEOs to establish SPN’s current membership model, which values the independence of organizations along with the need to work together to solve problems. He also worked with state leaders to build strong boards of directors who had the vision and adaptability to take organizations to the next level. He oversaw efforts to support our Network as they built and deployed state “durable freedom infrastructures,” or launched partner organizations in litigation, advocacy, and journalism, to achieve greater outcomes and staying power for these victories.

Carl’s leadership ushered in policy reforms that have made national impact, including historic government transparency reform, the Janus Supreme Court decision that launched labor reform across the country, COVID-era healthcare reform driven by the states, and now the historic wave of K-12 education reform, tax cuts, and a revival of federalism, that we’ve seen in the last few years.

“The state policy community in this Network is the best place to go for entrepreneurs who believe in the promise of America. It has grown and evolved in my time at SPN and it’s going to be there for the next generation,” he said.

As Carl passes the torch to newly elected chairman Lawson Bader, he will be taking on a new role as a strategic advisor in development boards of directors throughout the Network. His programming will build upon SPN’s longstanding work developing a community of board chairmen but will expand to include all board members.

“Tom would be ecstatic if he saw SPN today. He would believe what I do, that we accomplished more than he could have ever imagined. Lawson is very well equipped to scale us for success into the future,” said Carl.

Thank you, Carl, for your steady hand and commitment to Thomas Roe’s vision these last 25 years.