Program prepares senior technology leaders with the skills critical to government service and public policy
Contact: Carner Derron
The Aspen Institute
carner.derron@aspeninstitute.org
San Francisco, CA, October 27, 2020 – The Aspen Tech Policy Hub, Project Redesign, and the Tech Talent Project jointly announce the creation of the Tech Executive Leadership Initiative (TELI), a pilot 8-week skills-building initiative to prepare experienced technology leaders to engage effectively with public sector challenges.
TELI provides senior technology professionals with a unique leadership opportunity to build their executive skills through real-world engagement with government, policy, and human-centered design. Through experiential learning with real service delivery challenges, leaders hone their skills to work effectively with dedicated public servants and mitigate risk on technology projects.
The leadership training program, which was fully remote in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, began on August 22nd and ran part-time through mid-October. Participants included senior leaders from well known tech advocacy organizations, non-profit organizations, and private companies; entrepreneurial executives who have built and grown successful startups; and innovators who have led digital transformation efforts at large organizations on their own path to modernization.
“We’re delighted that this amazing partnership has come together to create this novel program,” says Dana Chisnell of Project Redesign. “Public service can be a rewarding experience. With even a small amount of exposure to challenges in implementing public policy, folks who come out of TELI should be prepared, empowered, and productive in leadership roles in government.”
“There is a big need for technical leadership in the government, not only to influence policy making, but to better current systems that people rely on most,” says Cass Madison of the Tech Talent Project. “We are excited to see just how big of an impact this first TELI class can make.”
“I am so thankful I had the opportunity to participate in the TELI program. While I have had policy experience in some of my tech company roles, I hadn’t ever experienced it from the government’s perspective; I found so many aspects of the program quite enlightening. Moreover, I heard many stories from speakers and program leaders about how interesting, challenging and ultimately fulfilling government service can be, and I came away with a new level of respect for those who have chosen that path,” says Sharon Zezima, a participant of the program.
TELI has received generous support from multiple organizations including the Ford Foundation and the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University.
For more information on TELI, please visit https://www.aspentechpolicyhub.org/teli/. TELI will also be hosting an event on November 18th to feature some of the work produced during the program. Registration can be found here.
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The Tech Executive Leadership Initiative is a pilot 8 week skills-building initiative to prepare experienced technology leaders to engage effectively with public sector challenges. TELI is a collaboration of the Aspen Tech Policy Hub, Project Redesign, and the Tech Talent Project, with support from multiple organizations including the Ford Foundation and the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University.
The Aspen Tech Policy Hub is a West Coast policy incubator, training a new generation of tech policy entrepreneurs. The Hub takes tech experts, teaches them the policy process through an in-residence fellowship program in the Bay Area, and encourages them to develop outside-the-box solutions to society’s problems. The Hub is part of the Aspen Institute’s Aspen Digital program, which empowers policy-makers, civic organizations, companies, and the public to be responsible stewards of technology and media in the service of an informed, just, and equitable world. For more information, please visit: https://www.aspentechpolicyhub.org.
Project Redesign (a project of the National Conference on Citizenship) puts humans at the center of public policy. Full civic participation assumes that government services are accessible to all. Project Redesign aims to deliver dramatically better public services to all Americans. The Project does this through people-centered practices and developing better ways to access government services. When people interact with public services that work well, they’re more likely to trust their government and take part in civic life. That, in turn, helps foster a vibrant democracy that includes all of us. For more information, please visit: https://ncoc.org/project-redesign/.
The Tech Talent Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit project dedicated to increasing the ability of the U.S. government to recruit modern technical leaders in order to achieve critical economic, policy, and human outcomes. It was founded in 2017 by former technology leaders from the Obama and Trump White Houses. For more information, please visit: https://techtalentproject.org.