Syllabus authors

Christopher Allison (Chris) is Director General, Data Analytics & Information Management at the Department of National Defence. He was previously Chief Data Officer at the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Chris has worked in government for over 22 years across operations, policing, immigration, national security, policy, major projects, air travel, open source, data, development and leadership.

Manuel Bonduki is a Brazilian scholar and Senior Policy Analyst, specializing in digital government, innovation, and its relation to federalism and intergovernmental relations. He teaches at the MPP level and in executive education at Insper and co-authored the book "Life Cycles of Public Innovation Labs".

Amanda Clarke is Associate Professor at Carleton University’s School of Public Policy and Administration. Her research examines digital era public administration, public data governance and the political economy of digital government. She is author of Opening the Government of Canada: The Federal Bureaucracy in the Digital Age, a recipient of a Government of Ontario Early Researcher Award and included in Apolitical’s list of the Top 100 Most Influential Academics in Government.

Honey is a digital transformation leader with significant experience leading public sector renewal and reform initiatives in the Governments of Canada and Ontario. In 2019, she was named one of Apolitical’s “World’s 100 Most Influential People in Digital Government.”

In addition to co-teaching Digital Transformation in the Public Sector, Honey’s projects include: designing and overseeing Canada's first agile governance pilot; developing a data-driven approach to modernizing Canada’s income security programs; leading development of an introductory digital curriculum for 289,000+ Government of Canada public servants and with Code for Canada and the Canadian Digital Service; leading teams that launched digital learning and assessments, and enshrined Ontario’s digital service standards in landmark legislation, the Simpler, Faster, Better Services Act, 2019.

Tanya Filer, PhD established the Digital State programme at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, University of Cambridge. She is founder and CEO of StateUp.

Dr. Mila Gasco-Hernandez is a Professor at the Department of Public Administration and Policy, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, as well as the Research Director of the Center for Technology in Government, both at the University at Albany. Her research focuses on the adoption and use of technology by government organizations, which includes, among others, the topics of open government, public sector innovation, smart cities and communities, telework, and artificial intelligence in government.

Chris Goranson is a distinguished service professor at Carnegie Mellon University - Heinz College, teaching classes in GIS, data visualization, and public interest technology. Before joining CMU, Chris managed digital services projects for the federal government. As a Presidential Innovation Fellow during the Obama Administration, Chris worked with the Department of the Interior and 18F to launch the Every Kid in a Park initiative. Chris also served as the Director of the Parsons Institute for Information Mapping (PIIM) at The New School, and the Director of the GIS Center at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Dr. Stephen Kleinschmit is a faculty member within the Northwestern School of Professional Studies. Stephen’s research focuses on developing data science pedagogy for public service and spatial causal inference in policy research. He is also known for his work in public interest technology and civic data analytics, for winning the NASPAA Data Science Curriculum for Public Service competition, and for establishing the Midwest Public Affairs Conference.

Vernie Oliveiro is Principal Researcher at the Institute of Governance and Policy at the Civil Service College. She focuses on the centre of government and digital government.

Maria is the Director of GobLab UAI – a public innovation lab at the School of Government of the Adolfo Ibáñez University in Chile – whose mission is to help transform the public sector through the responsible use of data science & AI. She has a Master of Public Administration from NYU. She leads several research projects with national and international grants related to data ethics and AI ethics, in public procurement and algorithmic transparency.

Sameer Vasta is a digital practitioner and public servant who has over twenty years’ experience working in the intersection of emerging technology and organizational development. He is a co-founder of the Ontario Digital Service and previously taught digital government at the University of Waterloo. He passes his time reading his never-ending stack of library books, writing letters to penpals, and exploring the urban landscape on foot.

Dr Tom Chatfield is a British author and tech philosopher. He’s interested in improving our experiences and understanding of technology, with a particular focus on critical thinking, AI and ethics. His most recent book, Wise Animals (Picador, February 2024), explores the co-evolution of humanity and technology.

Jude Hanan is the T4D Regional Manager for East Asia Pacific for UNICEF.

Jude’s role is to support, and provide advice and consultancy to support digital transformation.

Jude has spent the last twenty years extensively working within the digital realm, advising and working for several international organisations, such as the World Bank, OECD, and the Commonwealth Secretariat, and for national government organisations, like the Government Digital Service in the United Kingdom.

Her background is a mix of policy and delivery. Her policy background experience was gained at the UK’s Cabinet Office where she led the ICT Futures programme and as New Zealand’s government representative and Subject Matter Expert (SME) in digital transformation at the OECD. Her delivery experience was acquired during her time in the New Zealand government where she delivered the first iteration of govt.nz, and delivered training to the World Bank’s 22,000 staff, and developed programmes to build capacity and capability in digital in Africa, South East Asia, and South America.

She holds a Masters in Digital Diplomacy and is a trained United Nations peacekeeper, specialising in the use of digital tools in fragile and conflict states. In her spare time, she acts as a Justice of the Peace for New Zealand working with refugees. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Florian Keppeler is Assistant Professor at the King Frederik Center for Public Leadership at the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University (Denmark). His research profile is comprised of three research areas: (1) recruitment, selection, and retention of the public workforce, (2) the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in public policy and administration, (3) understanding how to motivate citizens to contribute to public goods.

Cate McLaurin is Senior Director and Head of Local Government at Public Digital. She is a digital transformation expert, supporting leaders to adapt their organisations to the internet era and better meet the needs of users.

Cate has deep experience in delivering agile, user-centred services within the public sector. Her expertise includes leadership coaching and development, facilitating conversations across organisations and systems, and supporting leaders to be bold and brave in leading change.

Rebecca Williams is a writer, lawyer, and artist whose work investigates how data and technology affect power. She is currently the Senior Strategist for the Privacy & Data Governance unit at the ACLU and serves on the Board of MuckRock.