The White House announced the newest class of Presidential Innovation Fellows this week, introducing 11 "innovators, developers, designers and entrepreneurs" that will work with federal agencies over the next 12 months.

The PIF program was created in 2012 and made a permanent part of the White House in August.

"What began as an experiment is becoming a success. That's why I'm making it permanent," President Barack Obama said in August. "My hope is this continues to encourage a culture of public service among our innovators and tech entrepreneurs so that we can keep building a government that's as modern and innovative and as engaging as our incredible tech sector."

The program brings innovative people into the government for one-year terms of service. During that time, fellows will work with federal agencies and programs to bring new ideas and private sector best practices to bear to meet their missions.

"Over the next 12 months, these innovators will collaborate and work with change agents inside government on high-impact initiatives aimed at saving lives, saving taxpayer money, fueling our economy and making our government more user-friendly," Federal CTO Megan Smith and PIF Director Garren Givens wrote in a blog post announcing the new fellows.

The White House also released a short bio on each of the 11 fellows:

  • Amy Wilson, from Washington, D.C., a user-centered product manager who has over 14 years of experience working at the intersection of communications and technology, most recently at Booz Allen Hamilton.
  • Mitch Sipus, from Covington, Kentucky, a specialist in urban development post-war reconstruction, urban systems research and technology design who was an advisor to the governments of Afghanistan and Somalia on urban reconstruction.
  • Michael Balint, from San Francisco, California, a software engineer who most recently lead DataFox and was previously at Lockheed Martin, where he coded elegant algorithms for air traffic control, visualized the U.S. energy grid infrastructure and helped automate melanoma detection.
  • Bob Ballance, from Santa Fe, New Mexico, a computer scientist with a history of entrepreneurship, managing collaborative alliances, large-scale, secure, government computing and academic activities.
  • John Trobough, from San Francisco, California, an entrepreneur who most recently served as president and CEO of Narus, an independent subsidiary of The Boeing Company, focused on delivering big data analytics for cyber security to its broad international client base.
  • Kyla Fullenwider, from New York, New York, an entrepreneur, educator and social designer who has worked with the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, UCLA, the Legacy Foundation, PepsiCo, GOOD magazine and the cities of New York, Los Angele and Baltimore.
  • Adam Bellow, from New York, New York, an entrepreneur, former English teacher and expert on educational technology who most recently founded eduClipper, a free web tool focused on helping K-12 students and teachers find, share and build valid learning experiences.
  • Eric Daimler, from San Francisco, California, a computer scientist and venture capitalist who has more than 20 years of experience collaborating between industry, academia and government.
  • Patrick Koppula, from Los Angeles, California, an entrepreneur who most recently served as the Founding Director of City Innovation Ventures and has served in both CEO and COO roles at various start-ups.
  • Justin Koufopoulos, from New York, New York, a product manager, growth hacke and former Fulbright Scholar who has worked with the U.S. Army, PepsiCo and Percolate, a marketing software company.
  • Wendy Harman, from Washington, D.C., an intrapreneur and strategist who has spent the last eight years building an information sharing ecosystem for disaster services at the American Red Cross.

People interested in joining the next class of fellows can apply at www.pif.gov.

About Aaron Boyd

Aaron Boyd is an awarding-winning journalist currently serving as editor of Federal Times — a Washington, D.C. institution covering federal workforce and contracting for more than 50 years — and Fifth Domain — a news and information hub focused on cybersecurity and cyberwar from a civilian, military and international perspective.

Share:
In Other News
Load More