The rise of the C-suite in city halls

The big picture: Data is of growing significance to local administrators as they balance needs for transparency and interoperable systems with privacy and ethical concerns. 

What's happening: The relatively new roles are carving out different niches from city to city.

• New York City CAO Kelly Jin has integrated data across agencies and developed a data-driven plan to address city issues, including identifying bad landlords. 
• Miami CIO Mike Sarasti has built feedback opportunities for residents into the design of an online platform for more than 200 city services.
• Detroit has a director of innovation and emerging technology, Kat Hartman, who uses data storytelling to standardize addresses and land parcels.

Between the lines: There is overlap across titles in different cities. For example, some CIO roles closely resemble other CTO roles.

• CTO roles, for instance, can cover infrastructure managers, innovation gurus, operations visionaries, community-facing technologists, or some combination of the four. At their core, CTOs are often tech experts, steering the adoption of the latest advances.
• CDOs, as another example, are data experts working to ensure effective use of data inside and outside city walls for public good. 

But, but, but: Implementing best practices from the private sector, like prioritizing customer service, involves more than adding another name to an org chart.

• And innovation can't be limited to the "there’s-an-app-for-that" mentality.

The bottom line: These roles, in the most effective cases, help to recast government as a modern service provider that is responsive and anticipates what matters to residents.

Hollie Russon Gilman is a fellow at New America's Political Reform Program, Georgetown's Beeck Center for Social Impact & Innovation, and Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs.