Jin started work Monday, filling a position that has been vacant for a year. It was last held by Amen Ra Mashariki, who left the role for a job as head of urban analytics with Esri, a mapping software company that has many clients in the gov tech space.
Jin’s responsibilities include guiding the city’s use of data-driven governance as well as overseeing its open data program and portal, which currently hosts 2,200 data sets from 98 different city agencies. New York’s open data portal is increasingly comprehensive, with an annual report last month showing that 629 data sets were added last year by 38 agencies. New York’s open data program is also involved in innovative storytelling efforts to spread awareness about the work that is possible with the city’s open data.
The New York news site Gotham Gazette spoke with Jin this week, and Jin identified bolstering data infrastructure and internal data integration between agencies as priorities for her office. Before going to work for New York City, Jin was most recently the director of results-driven government at the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, a philanthropic organization that often supports and funds gov tech and other civic innovation ventures. Jin also worked in the Obama administration under the U.S. chief technology officer.
Jin is also no stranger to municipal government data work. Prior to her tenure in the federal government, she served as Boston’s citywide analytics manager and as co-lead of its analytics team.
Editor's note: The headline to this story has been changed to correct Jin's role in the Obama administration.
