Forging the Path Together: A Recap of the 2024 Data Coalition Member Summit

2024 has been a big year for the Data Coalition community and the data community, generally. Recognizing that a lot of work has gone into this year across the data community, and in preparation for various transitions in leadership in the White House and Congress, the Data Foundation hosted the inaugural 2024 Data Coalition Member Summit on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, at The City Club of Washington.

Some of the themes that emerged throughout the day include:

• A sense that data literacy and collaboration (both vertically and horizontally) within the government have increased
• Support of strategic plans and learning agendas has grown among leaders, coupled with a caution of having too many strategic plans
• Education in the form of training, forums, knowledge sharing, creating tools, etc. is critical to the work of the Data Foundation and Data Coalition community
• Isolating examples of what the private sector and government sector can learn from each other
• Standardization of infrastructure, like the roles of CDOs, has standardized the conversation

The Member Summit was a valuable opportunity for the Data Coalition community to connect with fellow members, federal data leaders and pioneers, celebrate our collective impact across the data community, contribute to the future of the Data Coalition, and discuss future challenges and opportunities in a changing digital and political landscape.

The work of the Data Coalition was reflected in programming throughout the day, featuring legislative updates, interactive discussions, and in-depth conversations with data leaders like: 

• Dan Morgan, Chief Data Officer (CDO) for the Department of Transportation and first co-chair of the Federal CDO Council, and
• Nancy Potok, former Chief Statistician of the United States in the Executive Office of the President, and currently CEO of NAPx Consulting and member of the Data Foundation Board of Directors

During their fireside chat, Dan and Nancy discussed “Where We Are, Where We Can Go, What’s Left to Do” for the data community, which provided a unique opportunity for Data Coalition members to hear from Dan, a 10-year veteran CDO, and Nancy, who also served as a Commissioner on the US Commission on Evidence-Based Policy Making and co-chair of the Federal Data Strategy. 

Taking a similar theme to a salient data and innovation topic, we also hosted a discussion on AI that touched on how technology has progressed since the 1980s (and how some perspectives on AI have remained the same), identifying barriers within the federal workforce, and the role of data leaders in determining the uses of AI in government, or when supporting government. Leading the discussion was Kevin Richards, Vice President, Head of U.S. Government Relations at SAP, Data Foundation Board of Directors member, and Data Coalition Advisory Board Liaison, who was joined by:

• Ted Kaouk, Chief Data Officer at Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and first Chair of the Federal CDO Council, and
• John Zachary, Specialist Leader at Deloitte, and former Deputy Director, Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

The Summit also provided attendees with a forum to consider similar questions that Dan and Nancy discussed. At different tables members and attendees discussed: 

• What are 5 things better now than 5 years ago in this work?
• What are 5 areas we need to prioritize making improvements?
• How should this community help in the work?

Later in the afternoon, we entertained bigger questions as a larger group by asking: 

• What are problems or issues that government can solve that you cannot solve yourself?
• What collaborations would you like to see between government and nonprofit; state and local governments; etc.?

Throughout the day, we were reminded of the role of the Data Coalition in supporting the data community in government. Whether through convenings, education, policy advocacy, or other resources, the support of the Data Coalition and members is significant. During one of the fireside chats, attendees were charged with the important work of “being a resource and a trusted voice to cut through the noise” around data policy. 

Exemplifying potential ways the Data Foundation has worked for good in the federal data space, Nick Pallotta, Head of Workforce Performance and Staff Development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Services (NASS) and 2023 Datum Award recipient in the Data Innovation category, delivered the closing keynote. 

Pallotta presented the NASS Project Management Office (PMO) vision statement which stresses the importance of selecting the right projects, completing projects well, and then continuing to complete well done projects. Pallotta exemplified how the data community could accomplish a great deal by putting the NASS PMO vision statement into practice, after replacing the word “projects” with “data programs.” Capping the day off, Pallotta’s presentation touched on how the work of the Data Foundation, as well as data leaders like Nancy Potok and Renata Maziarz Miskell, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Accounting Policy and Financial Transparency, Treasury Department, inspired him toward innovative problem solving and to think about data in different ways. 

This is the start of an annual Member Summit tradition and the Data Foundation team would like to express our appreciation to all those who attended. We value those who were able to take the time to meet in person to celebrate, collaborate, and learn together. For those who were unable to make it, your presence was missed and we hope you are able to join us next year as we continue to “forge the path together”!