New funding is exciting, but it can also be destabilizing. I help organizations make their way from the euphoria of receiving a game-changing gift, past the mad scramble to get programs up and running, through the thicket of implementing organizational change, and over to stable ground to grow on.

After years of working in the nonprofit space, for the love of flexibility and sanity, Sharon pivoted to put her managerial and organizational skills behind her favorite partner, her husband Scott. Together, in the summer of 2022, they conceived and launched Evergreen Edge.Evergreen Edge Academy is where online membership owners and their teams get the training, coaching, resources, and support they need to build and scale a highly profitable evergreen webinar funnel.

Sharon is a painter whose media are acrylics and levity. Her work is inspired by nature, Byzantine mosaics, midcentury modern styling, and pop iconography.While the chief goal of her work is to impart joy and happiness, Sharon's paintings also draw attention to earth’s climate crisis and the need to treat the environment and threatened animals as we do material goods.More information is available at sharonpaleyart.com.

The Centers for Civic Impact at Johns Hopkins University built directly on work established under Sharon's direction at the Center for Government Excellence (GovEx). GovEx is one of three sub-entities that make up the Centers for Civic Impact. The others are the Center for Applied Public Research, which advances the public sector’s use of research and evidence to improve policy outcomes; and GovEx Academy, which provides training and an evolving curriculum designed specifically for the public sector.Sharon managed daily operations at each of these four centers including finance, fundraising, human resources, budgeting, marketing, strategic planning, fidelity to grant deliverables and Hopkins policy, as well as overseeing tool and technology development, monitoring and evaluation, and a data science unit.

The Center for Government Excellence was founded to help cities across the world build and sustain reliable data use practices, which lead to better decision making for residents. From the beginning, Sharon has overseen the establishment and rapid growth of GovEx, which has worked with over 150 cities around the globe. Under her management, the center has grown from a team of two to a staff of 30 and nearly tripling its budget in just four years. She is responsible for all GovEx daily operations including finance, policy creation, human resources, fundraising, budgeting, (even interior design!) as well as ensuring fidelity to grant deliverables and Johns Hopkins policies.Building on the success of GovEx, Sharon led a reorganization of the center into a suite of three additional centers (Centers for Civic Impact). She then managed operations for each of these four organizations.

Baltimore is on the brink of a renaissance. But it will take the coordinated efforts of developers, designers, marketers, tinkerers, entrepreneurs, and lots of doers to build successful, sustainable solutions that actually change Charm City.Hack Baltimore is a community organization bringing a startup mentality to urban change. It is a place for great ideas, initiatives, events, and people to intermingle and coordinate.* National Day of Civic Hacking: Hack for Change Baltimore* The Chesapeake Bay Challenge – a hackathon to address bay health and public engagement issues* Smarter Schools Challenge: Transit – a long-format hackathon with Baltimore City Public Schools, Maryland Transportation Administration, and OSI Baltimore, to improve transit options for public school students* Urban Fight: Combating Vacancy and Decay in Baltimore* Monthly civic hacking meetup* Co-host weekly podcast that connects and shares the stories of Baltimore’s “do-gooders”

The DreamIt Health Baltimore program speeds the growth and success of early-stage health IT companies. Powered by the Johns Hopkins University, BioHealth Innovation, and DreamIt Ventures – the four-month program gives participants access and advantages typically out-of-reach to healthcare startups.* Act as primary liaison for all DreamIt company participant companies, providing them with support, resources, and connections to the larger startup community* Coordinating weekly speaker series, office hours, workshops, and social events and gatherings* Management of vendors, accelerator site, program data bases* Marketing and social media

COMMUNITY BUILDING
* Foster opportunities for governments (e.g., US Dept of Health & Human Services, MD Governor's Office, Baltimore Mayor’s Office of IT) to work with citizens to improve service delivery* Developed “Hack Baltimore” platform where government and innovators solve social challenges* Mentor, connect numerous startups guiding them toward revenue* Organize peer-to-peer networking groups for hundreds of businesspeople* Honored by White House for building Baltimore’s civic hacking community* Collaborate with universities to help students find local work* Co-host weekly podcast profiling Baltimore's innovative people, events * Promote tech community via social media* Blog on tech trends, events, businessesEVENTS* Hack for Change Baltimore - Partnered with Philadelphia to create only cross-city National Day of Civic Hacking (White House initiative)* Tech Night - Annual gala, major fundraiser; grew attendance over 30% while cutting costs by 83%* BmoreFail - Conference exploring risk as key element of entrepreneurship* InSquared - Unconference advocating diversity in tech* Groundwork - Hackathon bringing together city, state, federal agencies with technologists* unWIREd - Unconference exploring out-of-the-box ideas to improve quality of life* Hack the Parks - Long-term hackathon giving seed funding, resources to citizens improving city parks* Talent Show - Program to connect area college students to local jobs* Geeks on a Train - Series of events connecting tech communities between DC and Boston* Tech Crawl - Behind-the-scenes looks at what tech powers Baltimore* Face to Face - Intimate dinner for business leadersOPERATIONS* Staff, project management* Accounting for gb.tc, fiscal sponsorships* Budgeting* Grant writing, fundraising* Vendor management* Board, volunteer coordinationPUBLIC SPEAKING* Value of hackathons for nonprofits, governments* Open data, government transparency* Employment, culture in area tech businesses

Organized, executed, and promoted all events, conferences, and conventions for this 65,000 member international not-for-profit organization.• Managed an average of six events per year, including budgeting, site research, contract negotiation, registration management, marketing and PR, travel arrangements, speaker sourcing, VIP handling, sponsorship package development, banquet and AV logistics• Responsible for annual budget of $500,000• Coordinated all aspects of international, biennial convention of 700 attendees, integrated with a larger convention of 5,000• Increased individual conference attendance by up to 95% while cutting costs up to 20%• Saved $23,000 per year on average through vendor negotiations • Consistently received excellent or good satisfaction rating from over 95% of conference attendees, 90% return for subsequent conferences • Conceived and instituted “Going Green Initiative” saving 62% on printing and shipping

Appointed by Manhattan Borough President to advise in matters dealing with human services, parks, land use matters, the city budget, and many other issues relating to the welfare of the community. Worked closely with city agencies; city, state, and federal elected officials; business organizations; and civic and community groups.• Lobbied for successful passage of Dignity in Schools Act, prohibiting harassment in NYC Schools on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and other factors• Crafted advisory resolution that resulted in renovation of Times Square’s north end, including doubling of usable space, installation of new TKTS ticket office and iconic “floating amphitheatre,” and increased handicap accessibility • Facilitated approval of numerous large-scale public art projects throughout city public spaces, including Christo’s The Gates and Jeff Koons' Puppy• Advocated for NYC anti-smoking law to include all restaurants and bars; resulted in sixfold decrease in bar and restaurant air pollution, increase in jobs, liquor licenses, and business tax payments

Oversaw all corporate development efforts, including special events, mailings, and proposals. Created marketing materials: brochures; websites; and publications for all development programs. Wrote and edited foundation proposals and individual donor solicitations.

Publicized medical products, pharmaceuticals, and corporations. Identified opportunities to contact media and place broadcast, print, and Internet stories. Researched, wrote, and edited materials for press and PR kits, corporate manuals, press releases and publications. Designed and implemented corporate crisis plans, including communications strategies for internal, government, constituency, and media relations. Organized special events, including fundraisers, editorial roundtables, and national awareness days. Managed a small staff and several vendors.

Wrote and edited press releases, reports, and proposals. Conducted research for by-line articles. Investigated publication opportunities for attorneys and investment banks.