Jennifer Pahlka
Jennifer Pahlka on Politics vs. Government
Jennifer Pahlka
Keynote Speaker
Founder of Code for America and the United States Digital Service; Former US Deputy Chief Technology Officer; Former Member of the Defense Innovation Board
As we face threats like climate change, economic disruption, and polarization, we need our public institutions to work. Jennifer Pahlka shows how government – or any large bureaucracy – can shed its decades-old culture, move into the modern era, and make good on the promises we make to the public. The founder of Obama’s elite tech unit and the mother of civic tech, Jennifer’s message is equally relevant inside and outside government. It ultimately returns to the democracy we hold so dear, and how both public servants and the public can protect it.
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Jennifer Pahlka'S SPEAKING FEE $25K - $40K
Getting risk-averse organizations to change is no easy task, but Jennifer Pahlka had led and inspired change few thought possible. She was a tech media executive when she realized that the practices of the companies she was spotlighting – companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter in their early days – had a far more powerful application: making our government work better. This insight spurred her to found Code for America, now the winner of both the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and the Audacious Prize, where she helped cities and states around the country adopt new practices to serve their people. It also inspired her own tour of duty in the White House, where she founded the United States Digital Service, which has the distinction of thriving as an agent of change under two successive presidential administrations.
Now she’s inspiring leaders across sectors and across the political spectrum with her new book, Recoding America, which asks us to stop trying to move the government we have today onto new technology and instead consider what it would mean to truly recode American government.
Featured Videos
Jennifer Pahlka
Jennifer Pahlka on Making Our Tax Dollars Work For Us
Jennifer Pahlka
Jennifer Pahlka on Operating as Collective Action
Jennifer Pahlka
Jennifer Pahlka on Politics vs. Government
Jennifer Pahlka’s Speech Topics
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Policy Divides; Delivery Unites
Politics is often described as “how the policy gets done.” But how the policy gets implemented – its delivery – is a whole different kettle of fish. Elites think in terms of policy, but the rest of the country knows about delivery. We know about it because it’s the fabric of our daily lives. When what government delivers disappoints or, worse, frightens or insults us, it shapes who we are as citizens, whether left or right. Improving our ability to deliver not only serves both parties, but it also strengthens our democracy.
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Everyone Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Face
When healthcare.gov first launched, with millions enrolling, it served a total of eight users on its first day. But by the end of the first enrollment period, the site had helped even more people than had been planned before its disastrous launch. And when the agency responsible for the site took on its next big project, it was on time, dramatically under budget, and so easy to use that their clients, used to constant frustration, wondered if they landed on the wrong website. That punch to the face turned into a dramatic transformation. How can you turn adversity into resilience?
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Are We Starving Government By Design? Or Starving it of Design?
Longstanding fights over big government vs small government are getting our country nowhere. We can have a government that’s less burdensome on businesses and the public and gets better social outcomes, and the key isn’t necessarily more money. It’s recognizing that what operates our government today is a mess of policy, process, and technology that has accrued over time without ever being designed to do what we need it to. Redesigning the machinery of public services is a choice we can and should make. What does that look like, and how do we make it happen?
Works by Jennifer Pahlka
Speaker Topics & Types
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