National award honors promising young leaders
“As these exceptional leaders step forward to shape the
future of their states, they embody the values that drive our work at The
Council of State Governments — civility, collaboration and innovation,” said
David Adkins, CSG executive director/CEO. “The 2024 CSG 20 Under 40 Leadership
Award recipients represent the best of public service, demonstrating that
leadership knows no age. Their achievements inspire confidence in the promise
of state government to meet the challenges of tomorrow.”
CSG annually welcomes outstanding leaders to join the 20 Under 40 community who exemplify a commitment to bipartisan and innovative solutions. This year’s class, representing U.S. 16 states and territories across all four CSG regions, is composed of esteemed and accomplished public servants whose hard work and dedication to public service is exhibited through service to their communities.
While politically and personally diverse, the
2024 class is united in their pursuit of advancing the common good.
Representative Cotter will be recognized for the award in a
ceremony during the 2024 CSG National Conference held Dec. 4 through Dec. 7 in
New Orleans.
“I am so grateful to have been nominated and chosen for this honor,” said Representative Cotter (D-Dist. 39, Exeter, Richmond, Hopkinton).
“This award particularly seeks to recognize bipartisanship and collaboration in
creating effective policy, which are so important to me. Ultimately, everyone
in the General Assembly, whether the letter after our names is a D or an R, ran
for this job to do just that. I’ve made a point to focus on what we can do
together to improve life for the people we serve.”
Representative Cotter is completing her first term in the
House after being elected in 2022. House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, who has
called Representative Cotter “one of the rock stars of the freshman class,”
nominated her for the very competitive award.
“Representative Cotter was extremely successful in her first two years of service in the House. Representing a rural community that had just been devastated by a forest fire, she sponsored legislation that created a legislative commission that she chaired. Her leadership and advocacy of the commission resulted in the House’s strong support of funding in the 2025 state budget for additional forest rangers, and led to the addition of land conservation funding in a bond proposal on the statewide ballot in November 2024,” said Speaker Shekarchi (D-Dist. 23, Warwick) in his nomination letter to CSG.
“She also continues to push for property tax relief and support for Early
Intervention programs, as well as being a strong advocate for education,
children and rural communities.”
Representative Cotter chaired the House’s Forest Management Commission, which studied the state’s forestry operations in 2023 and 2024 and issued recommendations to improve forest fire prevention programs, add forestry staff, and facilitate state, local and property owner collaboration for fire management plans.
Her leadership and advocacy helped add
funding in the 2025 state budget for additional forest rangers at DEM, and led to the addition
of land conservation funding to the “green bond” that
voters approved earlier this month. She continues to push for property tax relief and support for Early Intervention programs, as well as being a strong
advocate for education, children, and rural communities.
CSG 20 Under 40 Leadership Award recipients are selected
from a competitive pool of applicants based on their bipartisan work,
leadership and work within a specific policy area. Award nominees have
demonstrated excellence in one or more of the following areas:
- Ability
to engage officials across party, departments, branch and/or state lines
in meaningful ways to advance the common good for their state/territory.
- Provide
exceptional leadership to a state project, committee, chamber, commission
or special group.
- Serve
as a champion of change and seek to enhance the lives of all constituents
within a specific policy area.
