GovConnect: Recent Episodes
Rock Solid
On GovConnect, we sit down with local government innovation experts to bring you insightful stories and advice on technology, best practices, and the latest trends in civic and government technology. GovConnect is produced by Rock Solid
In his leadership of the Mayor of Baltimore's Office for Performance and Innovation in Baltimore, Maryland, Dan Hymowitz relies on data, human-centered design, and his experience working with to support the government's response to the about the Ebola epidemic in late 2014 and early 2015 to meet big city challenges. This interview was originally recorded in May 2019.
Highlights: * Lessons learned from the Ebola pandemic response * How the Performance and Innovation team is tackling police recruitment and vacant housing in Baltimore * A discussion on the top challenges government CIOs face today
Connect with Dan on LinkedIn and Twitter
Julia Richman Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Technology Officer with City of Boulder, Colorado. After getting a public policy degree, she started in consulting. Joining one of the big consulting firms, she spent about 10 years working with state and local governments. Started at the city in 2017 as the Innovation and Analytics Officer, before moving into the role of CIO, overseeing the enterprise technology function.
Highlights: - Path from Public Policy to Big Consulting to Local Gov - Defining "technology isn't necessarily the innovation, innovation isn't necessarily have to be technology" - Strategy as part a three to five-year vision Connect with Julia on Twitter and find more info on Boulder open data page and Boulder Measures
David Graham, Chief Innovation Officer with City of Carlsbad, California. David is the first CIO in San Diego County and one of the few throughout the state at the local level. Previously he served as the Deputy Chief Operating Officer for smart and sustainable communities at the City of San Diego among other positions.
Connect with David on LinkedIn and Twitter
Amanda built a multidisciplinary innovation team in the city of Los Angeles, CA that has gone beyond traditional expectations. Amanda and her team work to improve the lives of residents by asking questions, creating goals and tracking metrics.
Highlights: * Building the Innovation Team * How the Innovation Team selects programs to launch and execute * Details on how they set-up and track their "Pledge to Patrol" program in Los Angeles
Connect with Amanda at LinkedIn
Our first international guest is Dominic Campbell, is the founder and CEO of Future Gov and the Interim Chief Digital Officer of Homes England the non-departmental public body, which funds affordable housing in England.
Highlights: * Why governments should be thinking about the radical reinvention of the status quo using digital tools * Using design thinking to prioritize the customer journey rather than the bureaucratic process. * "Accidental entrepreneur" that built FutureGov to apply internet age technologies to Public Service problems
Connect with Dominic on Twitter
Greg Chavarria the Assistant City Manager and Chief Information Officer at the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida
Highlights: * Transitioning from civil engineer to programmer to project manager to CIO * Differences in IT leadership CIO roles at the local government level vs state department * How PMP background can help any IT leader
Connect with Greg at gregcharvarria.com and LinkedIn
Brian Elms, a founding member of Denver's Peak Academy and currently serves as an Innovation Practice Lead at the Change and Innovation Agency. He’s also a published author thanks to his book Peak Performance: How Denver’s Peak Academy is Saving Money, Boosting Morale and Just Maybe Changing the World. (And How You Can, Too!)
Highlights: * Learn about the different types of innovation * How leaders can talk about and define failure * Overcoming challenges facing today's innovation teams and leaders
Connect with Brian at ChangeAgents.Info, Peak Performance Book, and LinkedIn
Abhi Nemani, who helped launch Code for America, served as the City of Los Angeles' first Chief Data Officer and later interim Chief Innovation Officer under Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, is the founder of EthosLabs, a govtech consultancy.
Highlights: * How he helped to popularize Open Data portals but that cities should actually move beyond them * How local government can set up their model for civic innovation * Challenges faced by Govtech companies face with the traditional Venture Capital model
Connect with Abhi at EthosLabs and Twitter
Dustin Haisler, the Chief Innovation Officer at Government Technology, is a ferocious reader who's known for curating content on all things innovation and distilling it back to how it connects to local government. He has direct personal experience with all sides of government innovation, first as CIO in the public sector, later working for a govtech startup, and now working with local governments across the world on content and events as an executive at e.Republic.
Highlights: - How to build Open and Rapid Innovation with your own organization - Gamification to reward citizen engagement, and why it hasn't been more widely adopted - "Innovation isn't an ideas problem, it's also putting in place a system to execute on ideas that people have" Connect with Dustin at dustinhaisler.com, LinkedIn and Twitter
Brendan Babb, Chief Innovation Officer, talks about how his time as a programmer, researcher, patent holder, and Code for America co-captain impacted his perspective as the CIO of Alaska's largest city.
Highlights: - Patent holder, who's worked with NASA on Mars Rover image compression - Using behavioral insights to recover $500,000 in city revenue by spending $18,000 to test new collections process - "I'll absorb the heat to normalize failure" - Why he hopes someday the city doesn't need a separate innovation team Connect with Brendan on LinkedIn and Twitter
Nick Bowden was the CEO and Founder of MindMixer (and later mySidewalk), and he now serves as Product Lead for Model Lab at Sidewalk Labs, an Alphabet company.
Highlights * Raising $23M in Venture Capital and the pressure to grow as fast as possible. * Learning and transitioning from urban planning background to consulting at engineering firm to govtech entrepreneur * Making significant change by pivoting MindMixer, an online town hall software, into mySidewalk, a data aggregation tool. * Using mobile technology at Replica to explode volume of data local governments can collect in order to make more informed mobility planning decisions.
Read Nick's Blog and follow on Twitter
Steve Ressler, the founder of GovLoop, has a experience in the public sector and held leadership roles at GovDelivery, Granicus, and Callyo.
Highlights: - Creating and growing an audience for Govloop, "Facebook for Government Employees" - Deciding to sell Govloop - How governments can assess startup companies - Impact of outside financing on government technology Callyo's rap announcement
Connect with Steve on LinkedIn and Twitter