• Information use and management in public organizations
• Public management
• Digital divide and e-government

Natalie is a program associate at CTG, which includes assisting in the development, planning, implementation, analysis, and writing associated with a variety of projects. She began working for CTG in 2003 as a graduate research assistant.

Natalie’s work at CTG has focused on understanding information use and management in public organizations and the impact and changes brought about by new technologies such as mobile technologies or social media. Natalie’s expertise also includes the digital divide, open government and transparency, and fostering research-practice partnerships. Prior work at CTG includes an online skills assessment survey for NYS’ IT workforce and an examination of parcel data as an important public information resource.

Natalie completed her doctorate in Public Administration at the University at Albany in 2010. Her dissertation, Thinking Beyond Performance Indicators: A Holistic Study of Organizational Information Use, received the department's distinguished doctoral dissertation award. The study was concerned with how groups of organizational actors use performance information and other information resources to do their work. Findings highlight the need to understand the use of performance information as an organizational process and that organizational use is an emergent phenomenon with structural, cognitive, and behavioral dimensions. She currently teaches courses in Public Administration and Public Management at Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy.

Prior to working for CTG, Natalie worked in both the public and private sectors. She was a teacher and site-leader for a Denver, Colorado-based non-profit that created and managed after-school community technology centers (CTCs). Natalie was a New York State Assembly graduate fellow and legislative analyst for the Assembly Ways and Means Committee and has also interned at a variety of New York State agencies during her time as a Master’s student. Before returning to graduate studies, Natalie was a marketing director for a small financial services firm in Rochester, New York.

Ferro, E., Gil-García, J. R., and Helbig, N. (2010). The Role of IT Literacy in the Definition of Digital Divide Policy Needs. Government Information Quarterly, 28 (1), pp. 3 -10.

Hrdinová, J. L., Helbig, N., and Stoller-Peters, C. (2010). Designing social media policy for government: Eight essential elements. Albany: Center for Technology in Government.

Dawes, S., and Helbig, N. (2010). Information Strategies for Open Government: Challenges and Prospects for Deriving Public Value from Government Transparency. Proceedings of the IFIP e-Government Conference, Lausanne, Switzerland. August 29th – September 2nd.

Helbig, N., Gil-García, J. R., and Ferro, E. (2009). Understanding the complexity in electronic government: Implications from the digital divide literature. Government Information Quarterly, 26 (1), pp. 89 – 97.

Rethemeyer, R. Karl, and Natalie C. Helbig. (2005). By the Numbers: Assessing the Nature of Quantitative Preparation in Public Policy, Public Administration, and Public Affairs Doctoral Education. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. Vol. 24, No. 1, p. 921-928.

• Helbig, N., Styrin, E., Canestraro, D., and Pardo, T. (2010).Information and Transparency: Learning from Recovery Act Reporting Experiences. Paper presented at the 11th International Conference on Digital Government Research, Puebla, Mexico. May 17-20.
• Helbig, N., Hrdinova, J., and D. Canestraro. (2009). Enterprise IT governance at the state level: An emerging picture. Paper presented at the 10th International Conference on Digital Government Research, Puebla, Mexico. May 17-20.
• Cook, Meghan, and Natalie Helbig. (2008). Making mobililty work in child protective services: Lessons from the field. Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Digital Government Research, Montreal, Canada, May 18-21.
• Dawes, Sharon S. and Natalie Helbig. (2007). Building a Research-Practice Partnership: Lessons from a Government IT workforce Study. Paper presented at theThirty-Ninth Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Waikoloa, Big Island Hawaii, USA. January 3rd – 6th.

• Ph.D., Public Administration, 2010, University at Albany - SUNY
• M.P.A., Public Administration, 2001, University at Albany - SUNY
• B.S., Business Administration, 1997, University at Buffalo - SUNY