Sarah Butzen

Senior Policy Associate, Regional Technology Strategies, Inc.

Sarah Butzen is Senior Policy Associate at Regional Technology Strategies in Carrboro, North Carolina, an economic development firm that builds and accelerates regional competitive advantage by encouraging higher value-added commerce performed by highly skilled people. She focuses on the strategic deployment of technology, innovation, and place-based assets in order to create economies driven by advanced skills and creativity.

Sarah is directing the outreach and stakeholder engagement process through which RTS is developing a strategic plan for the creative economy in North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad region. Sarah has also led multi-phase statewide analyses and investigations of North Carolina’s creative economy. She is currently leading RTS’ three-year project, funded by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, to examine the scale, scope, and impact of Arkansas’ creative economy; analyze and assess the deployment of its creative assets; and develop recommendations for enhancing the impact of creativity on its economic future. She has presented in a variety of settings around the U.S. on creative enterprise clusters and how regions can build on them for widely shared economic impact.

In addition to (and related to) her creative economy focus, Sarah has led projects relating to the revitalization of traditional manufacturing industries; to the role of entrepreneurship and innovation in rural economies, and to the development of higher education’s capacity to address regional economic development needs.

Prior to joining RTS, Sarah spent several years in the public health field. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Kenyon College and earned a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Duke University. Sarah lives with her family in Pittsboro, North Carolina and used to have many interesting hobbies, but now has small children instead. She is about to launch her own consulting firm, Right Brain Strategies.

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