PRIVATE SECTOR. PUBLIC SECTOR. For Jim Cashel MPP 1991, it doesn’t have to be either/or.

“It’s not as simple as saying public sector or private sector. My sense is that there are more opportunities than ever for the two sectors to work together. There’s not a conflict between them anymore,” he says. “When you look at any public sector issue, there’s also a private sector component. For example, with global AIDS, arguably one of the most important public policy issues we face, there are enormous issues around pharmaceutical companies. How do you price medicines and vaccines? How do public companies interact with private research? ”

Cashel and his Kennedy School classmate, Dave Witzel MPP 1991, figured out a way to makethe two sectors work together nearly 10 years ago when they started their own private company, Forum One Communications. (Chris Wolz MPP 1991 joined a year later.) They offer Web strategy, development, and management for public sector groups like the World Bank, Center for Global Development, PBS, and IMF, as well as some private sector clients, with one mission in mind: Whoever they work with has to want to use the Internet to make a “positive impact on society.”

“When we started, the Web wasn’t very useful to most organizations, but now it’s essential,” he says. “Still, the opportunities are fast outpacing the practice.”

This is especially true, he says, for the public sector.

“The public sector needs better technical and communications advice, so we set up a company that addresses these needs,” he says. “We were all working in DC in the public sector in the early 1990s. We saw the energy and the profound impact that the Internet and e-mail were already having on our jobs. We also saw many impressive organizations in DC that had important mandates and capable people but didn’t have any idea what to do with these new technologies.”

One of the most recent new technologies that they’ve been helping clients utilize is blogging. (Cashel himself is a regular blogger, especially involving AIDS issues.)

“Blogging is one of the buzzwords in technology that is, happily, very relevant to public policy because blogs, or Web logs, are very efficient at capturing and distributing ideas, as opposed to just content overall,” he says. “Public policy organizations live in the realm of ideas.”

Cashel says he’s content in his decision to make an impact in the public sector through private sector work. “What really matters is wanting to make a difference wherever you are,” he says.

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