Erin Brown Duggins MPP 1999

A Strategic View for Efficiency

"When we work on mission-critical changes that bring efficiency and effectiveness to the government, knowing I had a direct hand in that is great," said Erin Brown Duggins, MPP’99.

Duggins is a senior manager in the public services change solutions group (CSG) of BearingPoint, a management and technology consulting firm. She serves as a strategic advisor across multiple projects in the civilian segment, and as the lead of CSG’s civilian segment sales team. She helps improve organizational effectiveness in federal government agencies.

As an organizational change practitioner, Duggins aligns government executives around a common vision and strategy necessary to drive change in their organizations, develops governance models to facilitate effective decision making, engages and manages stakeholder relationships, and prepares and equips the workforce for these changes through training programs.

She recently led a team in the implementation of an electronic records archive program for the National Archives and Records Administration. "This is an organization very much used to dealing with paper," she explained. "There was only a small group of … [Archive staff members who] dealt with electronic records, so this was a paradigm shift."

Duggins first became interested in consulting work while at the Harris School during the second-year Public Policy Workshop, a course organized much like a consulting workshop. "I was intrigued because it was very different from sitting in class learning theory," she explained. "The first-year [coursework] was very theoretical, so it was nice to be able to apply some of that."

After graduation, Duggins was hired by IBM Global Services and was assigned to a project on organizational change management for the Army Materiel Command. "When I got to IBM I fell in love with consulting … and figured out this is what I wanted to do."

Part of what Duggins enjoys is seeing government organizations increase their efficiency and effectiveness, watching employees embrace the changes, and knowing she played a role.

She also loves helping her staff develop professionally and observing the "aha light" go off during a project. In fact, Duggins serves as an instructor for BearingPoint’s courses for consultants and senior consultants and coordinates her group’s Peer Learning Networks program, an informal training program for all levels within CSG.

Reflecting on her time at the Harris School, Duggins said her policy degree is useful, especially when working with non-policy staff, helping them develop solutions relevant across government sectors, and during times of political and policy transition. "It’s not so much the piece of paper, but the method of thinking that has helped me the most," she said. "Being able to step back and have that strategic view … I’m able to bring some of that hard-core analysis and support."