David Biette Named New Director of CSG East

Former deputy director selected to succeed Wendell Hannaford

With the coming of the new year, The Council of State Governments celebrated a new beginning for one of its valued leaders. David Biette has been named as the new director of CSG East/Eastern Regional Conference. Biette served the last three years as the deputy director of CSG East and will succeed long-time director Wendell Hannaford who retired at the end of 2020.

“Wendell has left a great legacy for me to build on,” Biette said. “During my time as deputy director, Wendell was intent on my getting to know many of our members in the region and to know the important relationships he developed over his many years with CSG.”

Under Biette’s leadership, CSG East will continue to engage state policymakers so they can learn from each other and from the various policy and training programs offered by the regions and national office, he said. “

The relationships that we have nurtured over the years are important to CSG. We’ve been a great resource for our members, who are making sure that we can continue those professional relationships in whatever way they can. Our partnerships are important, and will help carry us through 2021, which will likely be as challenging as 2020, if not more so.”

Before joining CSG in May 2017, Biette served as executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States and as a political, economic and public affairs officer at the Consulate General of Canada in New York City, where he was responsible for relations with the states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut on a variety of issues including political, energy and environmental affairs. He was also the director of the Canada Institute at the Wilson Center.

“We congratulate David on this achievement and look forward to continuing to work closely with him,” said CSG Executive Director/CEO David Adkins. “David’s success is our success, and we look forward to supporting him in the months and years ahead. While we will miss Wendell, David has the benefit of building on Wendell’s legacy of success.”

Biette is the author of numerous chapters, policy briefs and op-eds and has appeared regularly in the U.S., Canadian and international media. He earned a Master of Arts in international relations from The Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor of Arts with honors — majoring in both government and Romance languages/French — from Bowdoin College in Maine.