The National Conference on Citizenship is pleased to announce that Denice Ross has been named to the White House Office of Science and Technology as U.S. Chief Data Scientist!
Denice’s expertise is applying data and innovation to solve pressing real-world problems. At the National Conference on Citizenship, she served as a Senior Fellow focusing on the Pandemic to Prosperity series – a trusted, reliable set of data to help communities recover from the pandemic. She also led on our 2020 Census work, focusing on a multitude of digital and technology preparedness initiatives.
“We are delighted at the selection of Denice Ross as the U.S. Chief Data Scientist in the White House Office of Science and Technology,” says Caleb Gayle, Chief Executive Officer at the National Conference on Citizenship, “and, we firmly believe her deep understanding and experience of solving complex problems with data, specifically her work on pandemic recovery and data transparency, will have far-reaching impact throughout our country.”
In the Obama administration, Denice co-founded the White House Police Data Initiative to increase transparency and accountability in the wake of Ferguson and worked with the Department of Energy on crowdsourcing private-sector data to improve community resilience in disaster-impacted areas.
Prior to government, Denice co-directed The Data Center, a non-profit data intermediary. After Hurricane Katrina, she collaborated with the Brookings Institute to track the city’s recovery through the definitive New Orleans Index. Ross brought a data-driven approach to numerous post-Katrina community planning initiatives and co-founded the first new childcare center after the storm. She also established their open data initiative, now recognized as one of the most successful in the country.
“Denice’s expertise in open data, and thoughtful data-driven approach to building systems that solve problems, especially in the city of New Orleans post-Katrina, will serve this country extremely well,” says Allison Plyer, Chief Demographer of The Data Center in New Orleans and head of the Pandemic to Prosperity series.
To learn more about Denice’s transition, visit her blog here.
