She will lead a seven-person Innovation Team funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, an organization active in areas relating to government technology, via a model that Maryland expects other states to imitate, according to the statement announcing her hiring.
As Maryland officials put it, those innovation teams help public-sector leaders work across different agencies to find “more effective ways to address complex challenges.” Bloomberg has a hand in more than 80 such programs at the city level but Maryland says it is the first state to try this approach.
Ioffreda will oversee efforts in such areas as data analysis, insight development, rapid prototyping and project management. The goal is to help the state’s various agencies to build, test and “incubate” work that will reduce child poverty in Maryland, according to the statement. Ioffreda’s varied professional experiences include research on poverty alleviation in Colombia, according to her LinkedIn profile.
“Our administration has been, and always will be, data-driven and heart-led. Francesca Ioffreda’s experience developing collaborative, data-driven solutions to big problems makes her the right choice to lead Maryland’s ambitious innovation agenda,” said Gov. Wes Moore in the statement. “She is widely recognized as a leader with a record of delivering results that make life better in our communities.”
Ioffreda also has consulting experience via a nine-year tenure at Deloitte, where one of her jobs was chief of staff for U.S. and Global Smart Cities. She was vice president for inclusive growth and talent initiatives at the Greater Washington Partnership, where she helped gain a $4.7 billion five-year grant. She was briefly a policy fellow under Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and worked in digital innovation and partnerships for retail and pharmacy chain CVS.
Her degrees include an MBA from Harvard, according to the statement.
