As CEO Emeritus of State Policy Network (SPN), Tracie Sharp provides strategic guidance and relationship stewardship to a peer network community of nearly 200 independent organizations advancing limited government solutions at the state level.

Following 26 years as President and CEO of SPN, and 32 years on its Board of Directors, Tracie now focuses on CEO onboarding and knowledge transfer, donor relationships, affiliate CEO coaching, and leadership development across the Network. She facilitates peer learning groups for affiliate CEOs, manages the growing peer community of board members, and assists as a strategic bridge between SPN leadership, major donors, and movement partners.

Under her leadership as CEO, State Policy Network grew from 36 think tanks in 34 states with combined revenues of $15 million in 1999 to a collaborative network of nearly 200 members today. The 62 independent, state-focused think tanks across the country now employ around1,100 staff with combined annual revenues exceeding $224 million.

In addition to her executive role, Tracie has spent two decades serving on foundation boards and directing major philanthropic initiatives to build sustainable organizations and a durable infrastructure within a nationwide policy movement. She brings her experience on both sides of the nonprofit-funder relationship, as a leader seeking support and as a decision-maker allocating it, to assist SPN and the state-focused policy network to greater success.

Background

Tracie helped launch Oregon’s market-oriented state think tank, Cascade Policy Institute, in 1991 as its founding executive director. Prior to Cascade, she worked alongside Washington State radio commentator John Carlson as director of programs at the Washington Institute for Policy Studies in Seattle (now Washington Policy Center). During that time, she was also active with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound and HOPE Worldwide.

Tracie earned a degree in history from the University of Washington. She, her husband, and her sons live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where her family is active in local charitable efforts, including the award-winning e-Soccer and e-Hoops programs that serve children with special needs across the Bay Area.