By James Irwin
Meghan Chapple, the director of the George Washington University’s Office of Sustainability, will be the new co-chair of the Innovation Task Force, the university announced Wednesday.
Ms. Chapple, who has nearly 20 years of experience in sustainable development in corporate and nonprofit organizations, will assume this role immediately.
Established by GW President Steven Knapp in 2009, ITF has led to more than 70 initiatives, ranging from new online programs to implementing cloud data systems. ITF has identified $27 million dollars in savings or new revenues to be reinvested in academic priorities in fiscal year 2015.
"Over the past several years, ITF, with Dr. Knapp's vision, has improved business processes and enhanced academic resources at GW,” Ms. Chapple said. “Students, faculty, and staff have contributed new ideas, inspiration, and implementation efforts. I look forward to building on this creative process and supporting the implementation champions as they bring the ideas to fruition."
Ms. Chapple, who has served as director of the Office of Sustainability since 2009, replaces Dave Lawlor as ITF co-chair. Mr. Lawlor, senior associate vice president for finance, accepted a position last week as CFO of the University of California at Davis.
The university will host its annual ITF showcases in November. ITF launched a second track of its $1 Million Ideas Competition in September, introducing a faculty/staff contest to complement the existing Student Scholarship Competition. Both categories invite members of the university community to pitch ideas that will reduce costs or generate revenue of $1 million or more per year for GW.
