Governor Jennifer M. Granholm announced DMB Director Lisa Webb Sharpe’s appointment as senior vice president for finance and administration at Lansing Community College (LCC). As a result, the plans to merge the departments of Management and Budget (DMB) and Information Technology (DIT) to form a single department that further integrates information technology into the administrative services currently provided by DMB and DIT. Kenneth Theis, current director of DIT, will oversee the consolidation of the two departments and will ultimately be named director of the new department.
“We are continuing to reform, restructure, and streamline state government,” Granholm said. “This merger also reflects the enormous role of technology in streamlining government and serving our citizens. By combining these departments, we are building on our work of pursuing every efficiency.
With this announcement, our efforts will have resulted in the net elimination of five state departments and nearly 200 boards and commissions. And we will continue to streamline.”
Upon Webb Sharpe’s departure from state government, the governor will appoint Phyllis Mellon, chief
deputy director of DIT, to serve as director of DMB on a temporary basis until an executive order facilitating the merger of DMB and DIT is issued and takes effect. Robert L. Emerson will continue
to serve as the state budget director and the Office of the State Budget will not be affected by the
merger.
In making the announcement, Governor Granholm offered praise for Webb Sharpe’s leadership first as
the governor’s Cabinet secretary and policy director, and most recently as director of the Department of
Management and Budget.
“As one of my original appointees, Lisa Webb Sharpe has been an advisor whom I have counted on
time and again,” Granholm said. “From helping us reduce our energy costs to bringing transparency to the contracting process, she has been instrumental in helping us improve state government for citizens.
We wish her every success in her new position at Lansing Community College.”
The governor appointed Webb Sharpe to lead DMB in August 2005. The department’s more than 800
employees provide purchasing, fleet management, printing, financial services, facilities management, real estate, design and construction, and retirement services. Under the Granholm administration,
DMB has achieved nearly $3 billion in savings and cost avoidance through a variety of efficiency measures, leveraged purchasing power, energy use reduction initiatives, retirement changes and strong internal controls.
In 2008, Webb Sharpe received the National Governors Association Award for Distinguished Service to State Government, was designated as one of Crain’s Detroit Business’s “Women to Watch,” and was honored with the Michigan Business and Professional Association’s Women in the Workplace Leadership Award.
