About Me
Over the past decade, I believe that a fundamental transformation has taken place in the public sector. Faced with unprecedented challenges, increasing demands on resources, and a rapidly changing technological environment, governments are trying to reforge their roles and remain relevant to their citizens.
Throughout my career, I have worked to improve the public sector's ability to deliver services to its citizens by taking advantage of innovative technological tools, by coordinating its efforts among a net of other actors, and by effectively planning to meet emergency needs.
In Minneapolis, where I first became involved in public policy, I saw how the Minneapolis Public Schools improved student achievement by commissioning the private firm PSG to serve as the District's superintendent. As part of the stakeholders invested in the success of my community's schools, I worked to improve the way the district related to its students and to the district's diverse and changing customers.
In 2001, I returned to my work in the Minneapolis Public Schools by running for the Minneapolis Board of Education. I ran for office because I believed in the promise of MPS, but I knew that the Board needed to change to better serve its customers. I was honored to secure the endorsements of Progressive Minnesota, the Central Labor Union, and the Minneapolis DFL. And, although I didn't win, I was proud to represent a voice for change in the district. I'll never forget the people who supported me, and especially the young people who believed in my candidacy.
After graduating from school, I worked as a business development analyst with the Ryan Companies, a major design-build construction firm headquartered in Minneapolis. Again working heavily with the public sector, I witnessed firsthand how through coordination between the public and private sector it was possible to redevelop communities and improve neighborhoods in a cost-effective way.
I left Minneapolis to work for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think-tank that seeks to empower minority communities through the spread of information and technology. I worked with the US Census Bureau to improve access to Federal Statistical data, and worked to democratize this information so that community groups could focus less on finding data and more on serving their customers. At the Joint Center we beta-tested new software, and I helped build the infrastructure which will make data collection easier.
In 2005, I relocated to New York in order to pursue a master's degree in management and international economics from Columbia's School of International and public affairs. I studied how organizations can use collaborative technology to improve their own operations and better inform their citizens, how agencies failed to effectively plan for natural disasters and man-made emergencies, and how Federal, State, and New York City agencies coordinated to maximize results. In particular, I examined how the City fashioned its budget to meet its policy goals and learned the consequences of good and bad fiscal planning on New York's fortunes.
As part of my program, I spent a semester at The Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. As Germany's first professional public affairs school, Hertie teaches its students how to manage the "evolution" of governance among the complex network of local, national, and international actors. Here I studied how to manage interim international humanitarian missions and how corporate social responsibility is changing the interaction between government and business.
Currently, I am an analyst with the US Government Accountability Office in Washington DC, focused on defense, homeland security, and emergency management issues. I also own a web-design firm where I create technological solutions for public and non-profit agencies seeking to leverage their resources in pursuit of their strategic goals.