The Institute of Government is pleased to announce the appointment of Mara Shaw as associate director of Governmental Training, Education and Development. Shaw has acted as the division’s interim associate director since early 2020.

“We’re grateful to Mara for her passion and leadership,” said Institute of Government Director Rob Gordon. “She has successfully led the division through incredible challenges over the past year as faculty and staff transitioned traditional face-to-face classes online and prepared to launch new offerings to aid local and state governments.”

Shaw’s background includes nearly three decades in local government, including the areas of administration, downtown and community development, code enforcement and local government planning. She joined the Institute in 2013 and prior to interim associate director served as manager of the Leadership Development Program.

In 2020, Shaw received the Walter Barnard Hill Award for Distinguished Achievement in Public Service and Outreach at the University of Georgia. The award recognized her dedication to improving education for elected and appointed local government officials and future local government policy makers and managers.

Shaw has managed leadership development and financial management training programs for more than 5,000 local and state government officials annually and has served as the lead faculty for associations serving elected officials and top local government administrators. She has helped develop programming for numerous government partner associations, including the National Forum for Black Public Administrators (NFBPA) Executive Leadership Institute, the Association County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG) and the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA). At the Institute, she has led classes for more than 2,000 newly elected municipal officials and 423 newly elected county commissioners.

The Institute of Government’s Governmental Training, Education and Development division provides comprehensive training programs for elected and appointed government officials, administrators and staff. More than 600 training courses are offered each year.