Most people assume that when a government service fails, it's a technology problem. After nearly three decades working with government and the people trying to make it simpler, faster, and better, I'd argue it's almost never that. Culture, capacity, and governance are what determine whether transformation sticks. Creating those conditions — so that teams endure, services keep improving, and the public gets something better than a digitized version of a broken process — that's the hard part.
That's what I work on through OpenPublic, speaking, advising, and coaching leaders across the public sector.
In 1997, fresh out of college with a sociology degree from Smith College, I helped Arkansas build its first websites and online services — a job that turned into an origin story. Studying society and social movements, it turns out, was better preparation for this work than any computer science program could have been.
During my career I have:
- Led U.S. Digital Response as CEO — a nonpartisan nonprofit with a volunteer corps of more than 10,000 engineers, designers, and product specialists who pair with state and local government to deliver projects and build lasting public-sector capacity. One of USDR's flagship streams of work has been with labour departments across the U.S., helping millions of Americans access benefits faster during times of crisis.
- Served as a Deputy Minister for the province of Ontario, making history as their (and Canada's) first-ever Chief Digital Officer. Leading the Ontario Digital Service, I built a multi-disciplinary team, operationalized the landmark Simpler, Faster, Better Services Act (2019), and delivered services used by millions of Ontarians. In 2018, I was named one of the World's 100 Most Influential People in Digital Government by Apolitical. During the pandemic, the ODS built some of the world's first COVID symptom checkers, outbreak data dashboards, proof-of-vaccine applications, and exposure notification tools. That work saved lives.
- Co-founded and led 18F — the first digital services team inside the U.S. government — growing it from ten people to 250 designers, developers, and product people. Following in the footsteps of the UK's Government Digital Service, 18F changed the trajectory of how the federal government builds and buys technology. For over a decade, the team digitized and streamlined internal systems, improved public-facing services, modernized software development practices, and built lasting digital public infrastructure including login.gov and cloud.gov. Fast Company took notice — profiling the White House's tech surge, spotlighting government groundbreakers, and naming me one of their 100 Most Creative People in 2015.
- Entered government service as a White House Presidential Innovation Fellow in 2013, working on MyUSA — a project to reimagine how Americans interact with their government online. That fellowship led directly to the creation of 18F inside the U.S. General Services Administration, as a model for scaling and sustaining the work PIFs started.
- Spent 15 years at NIC, the original e-government company, helping 30 states adopt 21st-century tools for resident engagement and build their first online services. I also created MyPollingPlace.com — the first nationwide polling-place lookup tool for the 2004 general election.
I've been lucky to take this work around the world — from FEST in Lima to GovInnovate AU in Sydney to StartupFest in Montreal to Lesbians Who Tech in San Francisco. I currently serve as co-chair of FWD50, the leading global digital government conference, where I've been an advisor and speaker since its founding in 2017. I've also been a guest lecturer at the Canada School of Public Service and the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, and am a Distinguished Fellow with the Future Government Institute. Early on, mentoring the Honolulu Code for America fellows in 2012 reminded me that this community runs on generosity — and I've tried to pay that forward ever since.
On the board side, I chair The Bridge, a nonprofit advancing civic technology with state and local governments, and serve as an independent board member of NorthGuide, a strategy firm in "Silicon Valley North" working at the intersection of government, business, and communities. Serving as an ex-officio board member of Invest Ottawa while I was Deputy Minister gave me an early window into Canada's regional innovation ecosystem — and a deep appreciation for what happens when government and the private sector actually work together.
I'm currently living in Toronto with my family, our dog, and a veritable zoo of stuffed animals. Feel free to say hi!
