Elizabeth Arledge
I have a few descriptions of who I am – business woman, scholar, Air Force Reserve officer. I am also a wife, Crossfit fan, runner, and photographer. Sometimes I ride my bike, go Jeeping with my wife and drink champagne with my friends. And, we have a cat who mostly doesn’t like us 🙂
As a professional, I have spent most of my 30 plus years after college as a military officer and also working as a management consultant. I enjoy people – leading people and helping people achieve a vision or a goal. My military career allows me to both lead and achieve a vision. Management consulting allows me to help others.
In the fall of 2018, I started a PhD program with Virginia Tech’s Center for Public Administration and Policy. Having worked in or around the public sector, I am passionate about supporting the people who work hard everyday to operationalize our democracy. And within that, I am passionate about the use of technology in government so my academic focus in on digital government – things how we decide which technologies to adopt, what are the barriers to adopting technology, how does technology disrupt organizations, how do we prepare the workforce for success with technology, how does industry play a role, etc. So many interesting questions.
I started my own business in 2021 so I could bring the three parts of my life together. As a reservist, I perform military duty once a month. As a business owner/consultant, I engage with clients who need my level of experience and knowledge without the high cost and long term commitment of larger firms, and as a scholar, I research important questions with the end goal of doing work that helps the individual in the field. I feel like the people who are doing research especially those in the academic world have a lot to offer to working professionals, but there seem to be barriers in this exchange – speed as well as access. I hope to do things that help my fellow professionals.