Tracie Sharp

Tracie Sharp is president of State Policy Network, the capacity building service organization of free market, state-focused public policy think tanks. SPN has over 130 members, including 56 state think tanks in all 50 states. Ms. Sharp has been an active leader in the state-focused think tank movement since 1988, serving on the SPN board of directors since its founding in 1992 and hired as president in August 1999.

Ms. Sharp is a trustee to the Roe Foundation of Greenville, SC. She is also serves as trustee to the Special Hope Foundation, a family foundation supporting innovative projects to assist the causes of the physically, emotionally, and developmentally disabled.

Prior to assuming leadership of State Policy Network, Ms. Sharp was executive director and one of the founders of Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon's state-focused, market-oriented think tank. During her tenure (1991-1999), Cascade became the leading free market voice in the state, thriving on nationally-recognized public policy research, most notably in the areas of k-12 education reform and social security privatization.

In 1993, Ms. Sharp founded HOPE-Oregon, serving as its first president and on the board of directors until 1999. HOPE-Oregon is a Portland, OR-based private volunteer effort to provide health care education services to low-income families.

Previously, Ms. Sharp worked with Washington State radio commentator and political pundit John Carlson, serving as director of programs at the Washington Institute for Policy Studies in Seattle. During that time she was also active in the Puget Sound Big Brother/Big Sister program.

Ms. Sharp is a graduate of the University of Washington. She and her husband and children live in the San Francisco Bay area.

E-mail: Sharp@spn.org
Direct phone: (703) 352-4910