Sharpsburg officials know they have something special in borough Manager Christine DeRunk.
Other entities are starting to take notice.
She was given the 2025’s Distinguished Public Service Award from the Keystone State Chapter of the American Society of Public Administration.
It was bestowed to the borough’s top administrator by Keystone Chapter board member Sabina Deitrick at the Dec. 18 council meeting.
The award is open to administrators at any level of government in the state and those in academia throughout the commonwealth. Candidates are nominated by ASPA chapter members, and the award winners are picked by the board.
Deitrick said the honor recognizes professionals within the first 10 years of their public service career.
“Christine DeRunk is a rising municipal manager who has combined her education, diverse work experience and commitment to the community to contribute to the field of public administration in a holistic and innovative way,” Deitrick said.
She went on to highlight some of DeRunk’s accomplishments, including bringing in millions in grants to Sharpsburg, her leadership and organizational skills and other positive impacts.
“(We) are proud to recognize Christine’s ongoing achievements with this award,” Deitrick said.
Brief resume
DeRunk was hired by Sharpsburg in September 2022 after working about 13 months as Verona’s borough secretary.
She taught physics at various schools from 2000 to 2015, including a five-year stint at Horace Mann School in Riverdale, N.Y. She also served as a grant writer and science department chair for Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh before becoming an administrative intern for Upper St. Clair.
Her other jobs included a solutions analyst for Business Forward and as the housing and community development specialist for Mullin & Lonergan Associates.
Her education includes a master’s degree in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy.
DeRunk said she loved being an educator but knew it was time for a career shift and enrolled at CMU. She graduated in 2017.
“It seemed like it was the right time,” DeRunk said about shifting to government work. “I was a physics teacher for 15 years, and I loved that and it was great. It just became time to do something else.
“I knew I wanted to work in something with community development and in that space. When the opportunity came up to work for local government, I jumped at that chance and I have no regrets. It’s been great.”
One awardee to another
DeRunk was nominated for the award by chapter member and 2023 lifetime achievement award winner Susan Hockenberry, a consultant and former executive director of the Quaker Valley Council of Governments.
Hockenberry said one of the reasons she chose DeRunk was because of her journey and how she is able to take lessons learned in education and apply them to local government.
“What’s interesting about Christine, I think, is that she was an educator and then made this transition and is working for communities,” Hockenberry said. “She made an intentional choice to be in local government administration. … This is somebody who is in the earliest stages of their public sector career and is starting to really achieve some great things.”
Borough council and other officials were on their feet when their manager was honored.
Councilwoman Sarah Ishman said the recognition is well deserved.
“Christine has been handling the borough affairs since Day One with an amazing amount of skill and coordination,” Ishman said.
“It’s been really impressive seeing all the stuff that she’s been able to accomplish over the last several years. It’s a great honor to have her recognized for this award, but it’s not surprising. She’s tremendously capable, and we’re lucky to have her here in Sharpsburg. Especially managing the high-profile large projects that we have going on here like the riverfront development.
“She made a great impact on the culture here, too. You can tell that the staff supports and respects her and works with her to get stuff done. No borough manager does it all by themselves. They do it with the support of their staff.
“Not everybody knows how to lead people, and Christine is a good leader of people as well.”
DeRunk was very reserved when presented with the citation. She spoke about what it meant after the meeting.
“It was an honor even to be nominated and an even bigger honor to be selected as a recipient,” DeRunk said. “It’s humbling, and (I’m) just appreciative of the recognition. Really couldn’t do it without the support of a great council and all of us just working together on helping to make Sharpsburg even more fantastic.”
