From talent to team: Scaling California’s state data office
In a state as complex as California, data strategy can’t live in a silo. As the State's Chief Data Officer, I helped build and mature a cross-functional, statewide data team that could work at the intersections of policy, engineering, equity, and design.
We didn’t just hire smart people—we built a culture of trust, experimentation, and delivery that helped California’s government respond to 21st-century challenges.
The Challenge
The State’s data efforts were often fragmented—brilliant pockets of innovation surrounded by procedural and structural inertia. There was no central team that could weave these efforts together and deliver integrated, people-centered outcomes.
We needed a multidisciplinary engine, not just a data team.
My Role
As the State of California’s Chief Data Officer, I led the development and direction of the Office of Data and Innovation’s data team—spanning:
- Data science
- Data engineering
- Human-centered research
- Policy and program strategy
I was responsible for hiring, structuring, and enabling this team to tackle complex cross-departmental challenges and deliver real value.
The Work
• Building the team:
Recruited and supported talent across disciplines, ensuring both technical excellence and shared values.
• Defining the mission:
Created a unified vision for the team: drive outcomes, center people, deliver results that matter.
• Delivering cross-agency projects:
Led successful initiatives around workforce analytics, benefit access, and data standards for the collection of race and ethnicity data, among others.
• Culture setting:
Fostered psychological safety, inclusive collaboration, and a public service mindset across all functions.
Impact
- Transformed a fragmented landscape into a high-impact delivery team
- Elevated California’s profile as a national leader in civic data innovation
- Delivered outcomes across health, transportation, housing, and administrative modernization
- Built a model for multidisciplinary government teams that others have begun to adopt
Reflections
The future of public sector data work isn’t siloed—it’s braided. This team became a living example of that: engineers talking to researchers, policy folks working with designers. The result? Systems that actually serve people, not just spreadsheets.
