A Letter from CSG East’s New Regional Director

CSG East Members, Partners, and Colleagues,

It is an honor to be entrusted with the responsibility of serving as the new Director of the Council of State Governments, Eastern Regional Conference (CSG East). Our purpose – to help public officials across the region learn, connect, and better serve the public good – is as needed today as it was when CSG East was first formed in 1937. For nearly 90 years, CSG East has helped strengthen the institutions and leaders that underpin effective governance in our region. That mission remains as important today as ever.

This is a moment that calls for both stewardship and renewal. Stewardship of an institution with a remarkable history and enduring purpose; renewal in ensuring that the work of CSG East, its members, and its staff continues to meet the needs of today’s leaders. Following a period of significant organizational transition, I believe we have an opportunity to strengthen continuity, clarify priorities, and position CSG East for sustained success in the years ahead.

Yet, we are also operating in a moment that demands urgency and evolution. Forces such as rapid technological change, waning public trust in government, growing fiscal pressures, and increasing national partisanship are changing how public officials in states, territories, and provinces must govern. CSG East must preserve what has made our organization indispensable in the past while adapting to better serve our members in the years ahead.

To chart our future course, I am taking the time to fully understand where we are today. The future of CSG East should be shaped by the full range of perspectives, backgrounds, and needs of the members, partners, and stakeholders who invest in our organization and rely upon it to advance their work. I am eager to learn from the long-tenured members whose vision and leadership have shaped CSG East’s success across generations. I am equally interested in hearing from those whose perspectives may be less familiar to us today and whose experiences can help us see new possibilities.

Listening, however, is not an end unto itself. In the coming months, we will engage in thoughtful examination of CSG East’s strengths, opportunities, challenges, and aspirations. We will ask important questions about who we serve, how we create value, and where we can have the greatest impact. The goal is not simply to determine what CSG East should do next, but to clarify our identity and align around how we can best serve the evolving needs of our community.

This work will culminate in the development of a new five-year strategic plan, created in partnership with the CSG East Executive Committee and informed by the voices of our broader community. More than a planning document, it will provide a shared vision for the future and establish the priorities and accountability needed to guide our work in the years to come.

Below, I have outlined some of the key areas of focus that will be explored in our work ahead. These are not intended as predetermined answers but rather as invitations to dialogue.

I invite you to get involved in this process early and often. As a member-driven organization, there is a role for you to play in charting our future as a region and an organization. Today’s CSG East is the product of today’s leaders and those that came before them. If you are dedicated to regional collaboration and the cause of good government, I hope you will read this as a call for your leadership and your involvement in writing the next chapter of our regional organization.

To begin that conversation, in the coming days we will release a CSG East Member and Partner Survey and will be conducting numerous individual and group discussions with members, staff, consultants, and partners. Together, these efforts will help ensure that our future direction is guided by the voices and experiences that make our community so strong.

I look forward to working with you in the months and years ahead to make that future a reality.

Sincerely,

Matt Lyons
Director, CSG East