Dr. Megdal serves as Associate Director of the Water Resources Research Center, as well as Professor and Specialist of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. She has been a member of the Arizona Corporation Commission and served as the Chair of the Arizona Joint Select Committee on State Revenues and Expenditures. In 1997 Dr. Megdal completed a six-year term on the Arizona State Transportation Board, serving as the board's Chair during the last year of her term. Dr. Megdal has also been a member of the Board of Trustees of TMC Healthcare and the Board of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association. She recently served as Co-Chair of the Governor's Transportation Vision 21 Task Force and was a member of the Governor's Water Management Commission. She currently serves on the Arizona Water Quality Appeals Board.

Sharon Megdal received her doctor of philosophy degree in economics from Princeton University, with a specialization in public sector economics and econometrics. In October 2000 The Business Journal named Dr. Megdal one of the "Valley's Most Influential" in the area of Transportation.