U.S. General Services Administration
GSA Welcomes New Presidential Innovation Fellows to Drive Scalable Services Across the Federal Government
A tenth class of technology leaders set to serve at 14 federal agencies
WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. General Services Administration announced the Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) cohort of 2022. This cohort of fellows marks the tenth year of the PIF program.
GSA is embedding 25 corporate and technology leaders in 14 agencies for a one-year civic service fellowship. Housed within GSA’s Technology Transformation Services (TTS), this year’s class directly supports the Biden-Harris Administration’s focus on empowering the federal workforce and delivering an effective and efficient government. The PIF program’s cohort-driven model offers unique opportunities for the PIFs to work together and make progress across disciplines and agencies. The PIF program ensures a strong community across the government that focuses on innovative sustainable modernization.
In addition, GSA also welcomes two new agencies to the PIF program:
- the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
“We’re thrilled to have these experienced professionals coming to us from private industry who want to do a year-long tour in public service, helping the government uncover new and better ways to deliver for taxpayers,” said GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan. “I’m confident that this diverse group will help agencies—now including CDC and FEMA—provide even more value to the people they serve.”
The fellows will work on projects including:
- modernizing core public health data systems,
- supporting the development and implementation of the Federal Data Strategy, and
- advising on critical technology efforts at the White House-level.
The 2022 fellows bring a wealth of expertise into government, including:
- engineering,
- entrepreneurship,
- product management,
- data science,
- artificial intelligence,
- customer experience,
- change management,
- digital strategy,
- and human-centered design.
This PIF class will build on the success of previous cohorts working on transformational public-facing services and products alongside their agency partners.
Here are our new fellows and their agencies:
- Charles Borges, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC),
- April Chen, Executive Office of the President (EOP),
- Jay Davis, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT),
- Bennett Gebken, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID),
- Ha-Hoa Hamano, National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA),
- Ryan Harrison, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC),
- Stefany Y. Holguin, PhD, Veterans Affairs (VA),
- Altin Ilirjani, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC),
- Daniel Jason, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC),
- Pamela L. Jennings, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT),
- Jeff Lee, General Services Administration (GSA),
- Andrea Levy, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),
- Cen Liu, Centers of Medicare & Medicaid (CMS),
- Kevin Luo, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),
- Peter Marks, General Services Administration (GSA),
- Varoon Mathur, Veterans Affairs (VA),
- Emilia Ndely-Ogundipe, Department of Labor (DOL),
- Abby Nydam, Executive Office of the President (EOP),
- Renata K. Phillippi, Veterans Affairs - Veterans Experience Office (VA-VEO),
- Jim Rymarcsuk, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA),
- Becky Slogeris, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ),
- Awalin Sopan, Small Business Administration (SBA),
- Karin Underwood, MBA, Executive Office of the President (EOP),
- James Villarrubia, National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), and
- Olivia Zhu, Office of Management & Budget (OMB).
“A thriving democracy is dependent on active and engaged citizens, a functional and accountable government, and an open and free press,” said new Fellow Ha-Hoa Hamano who is partnering with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). “So much of my career has been spent tugging and pressuring for change from the outside. In order to put into practice what I preach about radical empathy, I saw the PIF program as a way to embed myself in an institution that has to operate at scale to serve the public.”
Alongside their agency partners, the PIFs will work to improve the way government delivers services for the public. They will help to modernize the government’s technology capabilities by championing and guiding visionary projects as strategic advisors.
After their fellowships end, many fellows continue to work for the government. This continued employment allows the program to successfully stimulate sustainable civic innovation.
The Presidential Innovation Fellows, part of Technology Transformation Services (TTS), is a highly-competitive fellowship that pairs talented, diverse technologists and innovators with top civil servants and change-makers working at the highest levels of the federal government to be innovation catalysts. As of February 2022, PIF has recruited more than 200 fellows who have worked in more than 40 agencies to advance government innovation and deliver stronger public services. The program was founded by the White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) in 2012 and has been proudly housed in GSA since 2013.
GSA’s TTS applies modern methodologies and technologies to improve the lives of the public and public servants. TTS helps agencies make their services more accessible, efficient, and effective with modern applications, platforms, processes, personnel, and software solutions. TTS offices include 18F, Centers of Excellence, Presidential Innovation Fellows, and a diverse portfolio of TTS Solutions, including initiatives like FedRAMP, USAGov, digital.gov, cloud.gov and login.gov.
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About GSA: GSA provides centralized procurement for the federal government, managing a nationwide real estate portfolio of nearly 370 million rentable square feet and overseeing approximately $75 billion in annual contracts. GSA’s mission is to deliver the best value in real estate, acquisition, technology and other mission-support services across government, in support of the Biden-Harris administration’s priorities. For more information, visit GSA.gov and follow us at @USGSA.