Jennifer Pahlka
- Senior Fellow, Niskanen Center
- Senior Fellow, Federation of American Scientists
“The best solution of all would be to hold public servants accountable to outcomes over process.”
Jennifer Pahlka is a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center and the Federation of American Scientists. She founded Code for America in 2010 and led the organization for ten years. In 2013, she took a leave of absence to serve as U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer under President Obama and helped found the U.S. Digital Service. She served on the Defense Innovation Board, started by the late Ash Carter, under Presidents Obama and Trump. At the start of the pandemic, she also co-founded U.S. Digital Response, which helps government meet the needs of the public with volunteer tech support. She has received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and was named by Wired as one of the 25 people who has most shaped the past 25 years. Jennifer is a graduate of Yale University and lives in Virginia with her husband, Tim O’Reilly. Ezra Klein called her book Recoding America “one of the best policy books I have ever read” and “the book I wish all policymakers would read.”
