News
September Fireside: Who Counts as a Digital Services Professional?
Join us for our next NAGW Webinar! To register, log in to the NAGW website and visit our webinar page. This special fireside chat is open to all-comers! The recording will be available to NAGW members. If you’re not yet a member, consider joining us today. Share your thoughts on the webinar using #NAGWwebinar. We also welcome your suggestions for future topics. Looking forward to your participation!
Presenters:
Marcus Townsend, Solutions Architect, City of Fayetteville, NC; NAGW East Region Director
Darryl Polk, CGCIO, Director of Education, Public Technology Institute
Date and Time:
Thursday, September 24, 1-2 p.m. CT
Who Counts as a Digital Services Professional?
A Fireside Chat on the Future of the CGDSP Certification
The job has changed. Whether your title says web manager, communications specialist, IT director, or citizen engagement officer, you're being asked to do work that didn't exist a few years ago — AI governance, accessibility compliance, multi-channel service delivery, digital trust. The Certified Government Digital Services Professional (CGDSP) credential was built to recognize that leadership. Now we want to know if it's keeping up.
Join Marcus Townsend of the National Association of Government Web Professionals (NAGW) and Darryl Polk of Fusion Learning Partners / Public Technology Institute (PTI) for an open, unscripted conversation about where the CGDSP goes next — and who it should serve.
This isn't a sales pitch. It's a listening session. Bring your questions, your skepticism, and your honest take on what a certification would need to offer before you'd spend your training budget on it.
We'll talk through:
- What the CGDSP covers today, and how the program has evolved
- How the credential can stretch to reach communications, IT, and digital service roles beyond the web team
- Feedback on the format, cost, time commitment, and recertification process — what works and what gets in the way
- Your ideas for modules, topics, and skills the program is missing
Open to everyone. NAGW members, 3CMA and GMIS members, and any public sector professional working in digital services is welcome. No prior familiarity with the CGDSP required.
