Jim Creighton’s name has been synonymous with public participation (P2) for over 45 years. He “wrote the book” on the subject ,The Public Participation Manual, 1981, and owns the web address publicparticipation.com. Particularly applicable to this award, Jim was an organizer and founding President of the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2).

James L. Creighton, Ph.D., has been an independent consultant in the public participation field since 1972. Creighton's clients include over 50 federal or state agencies and many companies in the United States and Canada. He has been involved in P2 projects or training in Russia, the Republic of Georgia, Egypt, Brazil, Japan and Thailand. Many of these assignments have involved providing expert guidance on effective process design and practice that has been incorporated into major agency policies. He has written more than 30 guides on public participation, dispute resolution, and related topics for government agencies and trade associations.

Dr. Creighton has published several books defining the broad principles of P2: The Public Participation Handbook (Jossey Bass, 2005), Involving Citizens in Community Decision Making (National Civic League, 1992), and The Public Involvement Manual (Abt Books, 1981). He is also the author or co-author of four other books, including Getting Well Again, an international best seller.

Creighton became an early adopter of online engagement. He is the lead author of CyberMeeting (AMACOM: American Management Association, 1998) and for 10 years served as Co-Director/Director of the New Ways of Working Network, a network of companies implementing distributed and remote work strategies.

Another area of Creighton’s expertise is alternative dispute resolution (ADR). From 1988 to 1998, he headed a team of nationally recognized experts in dispute resolution that provided assistance to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the use of ADR techniques as an option to litigation. As part of this program, Creighton oversaw a team of the nation's leading ADR consulting firms in developing practical applications and training courses. The Corps ADR program won the Vice President’s Hammer Award for significant contributions in support of reinventing government principles.