2020 APDU Candidate Statements
Candidate for President: Mary Jo Hoeksema
Since January 2004, Mary Jo Hoeksema has been the Director of Government Affairs for the Population Association of America and Association of Population Centers. In addition to representing PAA and APC, Ms. Hoeksema has co-directed The Census Project since 2008. Prior to her position with PAA/APC, Ms. Hoeksema worked at the National Institutes of Health for approximately 10 years, as the Legislative Officer at the National Institute on Aging and as the Special Assistant to the Director of the NIH Office of Policy of Extramural Research Administration. Ms. Hoeksema served as a Legislative Assistant for Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and Legislative Correspondent for U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman. Ms. Hoeksema moved to Washington, DC from her home state of New Mexico to work at the Council for a Livable World as a 1990 Scoville Fellow.
Ms. Hoeksema has a Master of Public Administration from the George Washington University and is a former Presidential Management Fellow. She also has a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from the University of New Mexico.
Candidate Statement
I was introduced to APDU shortly after arriving at the Population Association of America (PAA). I was immediately drawn to the organization given its mission and the fellowship that I found with its members. I discovered that the annual meeting was a unique opportunity to meet data users outside of academia–especially those from federal, state, and local governments–and learn firsthand what issues were affecting their access to timely and accurate data.
I have served on the APDU board, as a member and previously as Vice President, for approximately four years. During this time, I’ve been involved in several initiatives, including revising the organization’s strategic plan, advising APDU’s advocacy agenda, and co-chairing the annual meeting. These experiences, combined with my frequent interactions with APDU members, has given me insight into the organization’s strengths and challenges. If elected president, I would build upon the work APDU has initiated to:
- Increase APDU’s membership, particularly among young professionals entering the field;
- Enhance the organization’s visibility inside and outside of the data user community;
- Improve APDU’s education and training opportunities;
- Strengthen communication with APUD members; and,
- Seek opportunities to collaborate with similar organizations to advance the interests of the diverse data users APDU represents.
If elected president I will always be open to hearing ideas and discussing issues with members.
Candidate for Vice President: Amy O’Hara, Research Professor, Georgetown University
Amy O’Hara is a Research Professor in the Massive Data Institute and Executive Director of the Federal Statistical Research Data Center at the McCourt School for Public Policy. She also leads the Administrative Data Research Initiative, improving secure, responsible data access for research and evaluation. Her research focuses on population measurement, data quality, and record linkage. O’Hara has published on topics including the measurement of income, longitudinal linkages to measure economic mobility, and the data infrastructure necessary to support government and academic research.
Prior to joining Georgetown, O’Hara was a senior executive at the U.S. Census Bureau where she founded their administrative data curation and research unit. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Notre Dame.
Candidate Statement
Last year, I wanted to serve on the APDU board to improve data access and quality for members, researchers, and program administrators. This year has revealed the cracks in our measurement infrastructure and the dire need to explain and inform our decision makers. 2020 has been rough on everyone, but especially on institutions like CDC and the Census Bureau. The impact of the pandemic continues to evolve in state and local governments, who face rising infection rates, battered economies, volatile budgets, and a great deal of uncertainty. Data will not solve these problems, but none of these problems can be solved without data.
APDU can, and must, foster coordination between federal, state, and local data producers and data users. For ADPU, I will work towards establishing standards and norms for secure and responsible data use. Our community needs to incorporate broader views of where data comes from and what it is needed for; emphasize data utility when designing privacy protections; and increase social license.
Candidate At-Large Director: Bernie Langer, Senior Data Analyst, Center for Court Innovation
Bernie Langer’s expertise in public data comes from his previous work at PolicyMap. Mr. Langer has a deep and broad knowledge about federal statistical agencies and private data providers, as well as experience working with data and data users to solve problems. He worked with data from the Census Bureau, BLS, IRS, SSA, HUD, USDA, FDIC, FBI, FCC, FEMA, DOT, NCES, EPA, SBA, and CDC, just to name a few. Mr. Langer also led PolicyMap’s “Mapchats” webinar series, a forum for data providers and users to discuss their work.
Mr. Langer’s current work at the Center for Court Innovation deals with a very different type of data, regarding New York City’s criminal justice system. In his role as a senior data analyst, Mr. Langer works with the organization’s Supervised Release Program, a pre-trial alternative to bail.
Candidate Statement
I am excited to continue serving on the APDU Board of Directors. In my last term, I served on the conference committee, which put together APDU’s first ever virtual conference. The conference was a success, virtually bringing together people working in data from across the country at a crucial point during the 2020 Census and Covid crisis.
I find APDU’s conferences, webinars, and newsletters invaluable. As a board member, I would continue my commitment to maintaining the high quality of APDU’s services and events, finding additional ways for data providers and users to interact, and raising the profile of public data in society.
Candidate for At-Large Director: Michelle Riordan-Nold, Executive Director, Connecticut Data Collaborative
Michelle Riordan-Nold has served as Executive Director of the Connecticut Data Collaborative (CTData) since 2014. In her current role, Ms. Riordan-Nold leads CTData, whose mission seeks to democratize access to public data and build data literacy skills to increase data informed decision making in Connecticut. CTData is also the designated Census State Data Center for Connecticut. In addition, the organization holds monthly public data literacy workshops; creates maps and other visualization tools for community organizations to access and use data; and is building an integrated data system in Hartford. In 2020, the organization was the winner of the CT Entrepreneurial Award in Education.
Prior to leading CTData, Ms. Riordan-Nold worked as a research analyst for the CT Economic Resource Center and before that for the Connecticut Legislature in the Program Review and Investigations Committee. Ms. Riordan-Nold has a Bachelor degree in Mathematics from Boston College and a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Chicago.
Candidate Statement
I have been both an attendee and a presenter at the APDU conferences for the past five years. It is great to be a part of a community that is working on improving public access to data and sharing new ways to access and improve its use. I am always amazed at the initiatives happening at the federal level and leave each conference with new ideas and data to share with the community of data users we serve in Connecticut.
If elected, I would be interested in finding ways to increase the membership to include more state level data users. Federal data is critical to much of the work at the state level and I see an opportunity for sharing and increasing the knowledge of both state and federal data users to help improve the work at all levels of government.
I also see an important role of the APDU in staying connected and informed about the evolving Disclosure Avoidance Policy implementation. I believe this should be at the forefront of all data discussions and was encouraged by the attention it received during this year’s conference. The APDU plays an important role in guiding the data user community on how to use the data but can also advocate to make sure the data is provided in such a way that it can be used for informed decision making at all levels of government. I would encourage the APDU to take a more active role in advocating for transparency around the implementation.
If elected, I hope to provide a state level perspective and contribute to the growth of the organization by helping to broaden the membership to include a more diverse group of data users.
Candidate for At-Large Director: Daniel Quigg, CEO, Public Insight Corporation
Dan Quigg is a serial entrepreneur focusing primarily on software analytics. Dan has served as CEO of Public Insight Data Corporation (Public Insight) since 2012, a business intelligence company that transforms public data into actionable insights with solutions in career and workforce development, staffing and recruiting, and higher education benchmarking. Public Insight leverages industry and government data in its self-service business intelligence applications such as Insight for Work and Insight for Higher Education.
Over his career of over thirty years Dan has founded or led eight early stage businesses. Dan is an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist and winner of the Smart Business Rising Star Award. He successfully sold three businesses, two to public technology firms where he took a senior executive position. He has also served on the adjunct entrepreneurship faculty of Kent State University and has served on multiple corporate boards. Dan has also served as an advisor for micro-economic development in developing countries, primarily Rwanda and Peru. He currently is on the National Council of the Valparaiso University College of Business.
Dan received his B.S. from Valparaiso University in 1981 and his CPA in 1983. He received his MBA from Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management in May 2007. Dan was the inaugural winner of the Weatherhead Executive MBA Leadership Award as nominated by his peers.
Candidate Statement
I have always had a passion for data and am a self-described “data junkie”. I founded Public Insight in 2012 because I saw an asset in public data that was dramatically underutilized. Public Insight was built around that very concept.
I have been involved with APDU since starting Public Insight. I and my company have benefitted greatly from the research, webinars, and conferences. However, I feel that there is a large, untapped audience in the private sector that utilize public data and are not being reached by APDU. I see it every day. Should you decide to accept my candidacy into APDU, I would advocate for outreach to the private sector. Given my startup experience, I can add a lot of value in how to reach and extend APDU’s reach into the private sector.
I would advocate for more online education and training to the private sector. In the labor market particularly, there is a hunger for more information due to pandemic-induced volatility. I see courses like what is currently being offered through the Labor Market Institute (LMI) as a vehicle to reach a broader audience with minimal investment and risk.
My impressions of APDU suggest it is moving more and more to policy and advocacy. My interest is not in these areas nor do I add any value. I am a user of public data and want to see its value disseminated. This is where I can add value and where the mission is aligned with Public Insight.
Candidate for At-Large Director: Lori Turk-Bicakci, Ph.D., Director, Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health
Lori Turk-Bicakci, Ph.D., is Director for Kidsdata, a program of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health. She promotes data-based decision making and action to improve children’s health and well-being, and she contributes to the quality, relevance, and utility of the data and content on kidsdata.org. She oversees the process of collecting, preparing, and releasing data from more than 35 federal and state data sources. Before joining the Foundation, Dr. Turk-Bicakci was a senior researcher at American Institutes for Research. She has extensive experience with data collection, analysis, and reporting for education, social services, and other research projects that support children’s long-term health and development. Prior to her work in research, Dr. Turk-Bicakci was a middle school social studies teacher.