Young Government Leaders now at 300 members

Young Government Leaders Web site

Megan Quinn, founder and president of Young Government Leaders, described herself as a lonely federal employee when she formed a small social group in 2003 with eight federal employees her age.

That group of recent college graduates has grown into an organization with 300 members in more than 30 federal departments and agencies, Quinn said, speaking yesterday at an Excellence in Government Conference in Washington, D.C.

Young federal employees “are given lots of responsibility, but many don’t feel they are being prepared for leadership,” Quinn said. She started Young Government Leaders to try to fill that gap.

The group is planning a variety of professional programs, including activities that Quinn described as cross-generational exchanges with leaders in the Council for Excellence in Government’s Fellows Program.

Quinn, an information management specialist, works for the Environmental Protection Agency’s chief information officer as a member of the architecture team. “I’m working for that not exactly defined bottom line that is public service,” she said.