Office of InnovationOur Team
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Dave Cole
New Jersey State Chief Innovation Officer
Dave Cole serves as the State of New Jersey’s Chief Innovation Officer and a Member of the Governor’s Cabinet. In this capacity, Dave, a native of New Jersey, focuses on enhancing innovation in government and in the Garden State’s economy. Using better data, more collective intelligence and agile technology, the Office of Innovation leads projects, designs policies, and advises agencies on innovative strategies to improve the lives of New Jerseyans.
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Dr. Beth Simone Noveck
New Jersey State Chief Artificial Intelligence Strategist
Beth Simone Noveck serves as the State of New Jersey’s first Chief AI Strategist. In this capacity, Dr. Noveck focuses on implementing Governor Murphy’s vision of having New Jersey lead the nation in the advancement of AI in both the private and public sectors. Dr. Noveck also serves as a Co-Chair of the Governor’s Task Force on AI and served as the Chair of the Governor’s Future of Work Task Force. She previously served as the first-ever New Jersey State Chief Innovation Officer.
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Aditi Sharma
Aditi is a product manager on the Resident Experience initiative at the Office of Innovation. Her primary focus is to transform how the State delivers digital services using a data-driven, people-focused approach. Her current work involves developing an information hub to help people with disabilities and their loved ones easily access vital state programs and support services.
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Amani Farooque
Amani Farooque is the director of product at the Office of Innovation. She supports product managers across the Resident Experience and Business Experience initiatives to hone their product craft and lead efforts that better the lives of New Jerseyans.
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Amy Wu
Amy Wu is a designer and researcher working on the Resident Experience initiative at the Office of Innovation. Currently, Amy is focused on modernizing unemployment insurance and supporting the benefits delivery journey for New Jersey workers.
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AnJu Hyppolite
AnJu Hyppolite is a software engineer on the Business Experience Initiative team with the Office of Innovation. She works on developing the Navigator, a one-stop application that improves the user experience for entrepreneurs looking to start, operate, and grow their businesses in New Jersey.
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Anne LoVerso
Anne LoVerso serves New Jerseyans as a software engineer, engaging in technical development and building modern digital solutions. Using her expertise in agile development, she works to make government services more accessible, data-driven, and people-focused. Her current work with the Office of Innovation focuses on improving the experience of starting, operating, and growing a business in the state through the Office’s Business Experience Initiative.
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Ashley Sun
Ashley Sun (she/her) is a software engineer on the Resident Experience Initiative. She is currently working on the call center modernization project, which helps agencies across the state set up phone systems to support New Jerseyans accessing their programs. As a member of that team, she builds features that reduce wait times and increase call center capacity. Along the way, she is an advocate for designing the caller experience with compassion and empathy for the people on both ends of the call. Through her work she aims to reduce stress and frustration for callers navigating complex government services.
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Barbara Niveyro
Barbara Niveyro is the bilingual content design lead at the Office of Innovation, working to drive content strategy, research strategy, and content creation to enhance the State’s ability to use constantly-evolving, plain, Spanish language content to improve how residents interact with New Jersey State government.
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Ben Turndorf
Ben is a product manager on the Resident Experience initiative team at the Office of Innovation, working to make it easier for New Jersey residents to access state resources and programs.
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Case Walker
Case Walker is a software engineer with the Office of Innovation working on the Resident Experience Initiative. He’s currently focusing on projects related to Unemployment Insurance modernization and improvements to Temporary Disability Insurance and Family Leave Insurance.
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Connie Colvin
Connie Colvin (they/she) is a product manager on the Business Experience initiative at the Office of Innovation, striving to make it easier for business owners to start businesses in the Garden State so they can spend more time doing things they love.
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Crystal Peñalosa
Crystal Peñalosa (she/they) is an artist, civic technologist, and interdisciplinary designer. Within the Office of Innovation, Crystal serves as the digital product lead for the Data for the American Dream initiative, leading the project’s human centered design, research, and product management in collaboration with New Jersey Department of Labor.
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David Powell
David Powell serves as a content lead at the Office of Innovation. In this role, he functions as a primary content developer and editor for the New Jersey COVID-19 Information Hub, Business.NJ.gov, and email publications that reach millions of state residents.
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Edward Paulino
Edward Paulino conducts policy analysis and drives engagement initiatives at the Office of Innovation. In his work, he fosters collaboration between government, external stakeholders, and New Jerseyans to inform policies by leveraging new and innovative ways for the public to contribute meaningfully to the policymaking process.
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Eesha Parasnis
Eesha Parasnis is a marketing research lead on the Office of Innovation’s Communication + Engagement Lab team. She conducts qualitative and quantitative research studies to uncover what resonates with New Jersey residents based on their behaviors, motivations, and emotions.
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E.J. Kalafarski
E.J. Kalafarski is a technology strategist with the Office of Innovation where he serves as director of the Business Experience Initiative. This work leverages human-centered design and agile, data-driven practices to make it easier and faster to do business in New Jersey. He focuses on building organizations and products that run intuitively and iterate fast.
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Eugene K. Chow
Eugene K. Chow is an experienced speechwriter, journalist, and communications strategist, with more than a decade of public and private sector experience. With the Office of Innovation, he supports key public communication initiatives, such as the COVID-19 Information Hub, through content development and strategic messaging.
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Fred DeJohn
Fred DeJohn is an attorney with extensive experience in finance, budget, and human resources in both government and higher education. He serves as the Office of Innovation’s chief financial officer - in this capacity, Fred oversees the Office’s financial operations, manages relationships with foundation and institutional funders, and advises the Chief Innovation Officer on organizational governance and human resource matters.
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Graham Simpson
Graham Simpson works on policy and engagement work at the Office of Innovation. In that role, he supports and manages public policy initiatives, leads the Office’s programs on public entrepreneurship and innovation skills training, and produces policy research. Graham is passionate about evidence-informed policy and helping policy professionals use and apply data.
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Hannah Chatham
Hannah Chatham (she/her) serves as a product designer for the Office of Innovation, currently diving deep into best ways to provide more access for working parents as they apply for public benefits. She works at the intersection of research and design; listening to needs and iterating with visual solutions.
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Heather Ferguson
Heather Ferguson serves as the talent lead at the Office of Innovation where she brings a fusion of strategic vision, empathy, and hands-on experience to recruiting and talent development.
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James Sallee
James Sallee is a product manager on the Resident Experience team at the Office of Innovation. In this role, he contributes to an array of projects that make government services more accessible to all New Jerseyians.
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Jasmine Noor
Jasmine Noor is a full-stack engineer on the Resident Experience initiative team at the Office of Innovation. Her primary focus is enhancing the accessibility and effectiveness of various government services for the residents of New Jersey, leveraging her extensive technical skills and passion for community improvement.
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Jessica Lax
Jessica Lax plays a leading role in the Office of Innovation’s efforts to improve the experience of starting, operating, and growing a business in the Garden State. She is a civic sector strategist that leverages human-centered design and interdisciplinary collaboration to create more just and impactful organizations, programs and policies.
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Dr. Jo Murphy
Dr. Jo is the inaugural executive assistant to the Chief Innovation Officer at the Office of Innovation. Having worked in social justice fields for decades, Jo works towards curating an equitable, efficient, and effective work environment for the team.
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Joe DeLaTorre
Joe DeLaTorre supports technology and policy implementation on an array of initiatives for the Office of Innovation. He leverages human-centered design skills to develop and implement UX/UI and content changes on Business.NJ.gov, and investigates the use of new technologies and innovations to improve the experience of starting, operating, and growing a business in the Garden State. Joe also conducts policy research and formulates policy recommendations related to workforce development and the future of work.
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John Chan
John Chan is a software engineer experienced in architecting serverless systems, writing resilient software, and leading software teams. At the Office of Innovation, John builds solutions that improve the lives of New Jerseyans as part of the Resident Experience initiative team.
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Kai D. Feder
Kai D. Feder serves as the chief of staff at the Office of Innovation, where he oversees the office’s day-to-day operations and advises the Chief Innovation Officer on strategic direction, leads projects and policy initiatives, and manages intergovernmental and external affairs. His career in government and public policy has spanned numerous issue areas, ranging from economic development and technology, to transportation and infrastructure, and has included positions in both the public and private sectors.
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Katherine B. Nammacher
Katherine is a product manager with the Office of Innovation team, where she works on the Business Experience Initiative. In this capacity, she leads a team that explores how emerging technology - including generative artificial intelligence - can provide new ways to support internal teams, business owners, and New Jerseyans.
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Katie Fiore
Katie Fiore leads strategy for the Office of Innovation’s Communication & Engagement Lab, where she is working to modernize and advance the State’s ability to effectively market and promote key services, programs, and initiatives through the use of research- and data-driven best practices.
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Liz Lawler
Liz Lawler serves as a product designer at the Office of Innovation. Working on the Resident Experience team, she supports team efforts to design and research equitable and innovative digital tools that improve how the State delivers benefits and services to its residents.
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Dr. Maria Skouras
Dr. Maria Skouras develops marketing strategies for the Office of Innovation’s Communication & Engagement Lab, where she takes a resident-first, data-driven approach to promoting critical State services and programs to New Jerseyans.
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Mark Harris
Mark is a product manager working at the Office of Innovation on the Business Experience initiative. His work focuses on improving the experience of starting, operating, and growing a business in New Jersey.
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Matthew Luedke
Matt Luedke is a software engineer on the Office of Innovation’s Resident Experience team. He leverages his expertise on the Office’s Resident Experience Initiative to help New Jerseyans more easily and efficiently access state resources.
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Melanie Mazanec
Melanie Mazanec is a software engineer working on the Office of Innovation’s Resident Experience initiative. She has worked on public interest tech since 2015 as an engineer, public servant, freelancer, knowledge manager, open source contributor, and volunteer.
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Melissa Cliver
Melissa Cliver serves as a product designer for the Office of Innovation’s Resident Experience initiative. She is currently focusing on streamlining safety net services for the most vulnerable.
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Naman Agrawal
Naman Agrawal is a director of engineering at the Office of Innovation. He focuses on building technology that is accessible, user-focused, and tackles human problems, and works on products that help New Jerseyans access government services more efficiently. Naman also mentors engineers and facilitates opportunities to grow the discipline within the Office.
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Nausheen Rajan
Nausheen Rajan works on data analytics and impact analysis with the Office of Innovation. Her work focuses on identifying and measuring key performance indicators through quantitative and qualitative analysis.
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Noah Marcus
Noah Marcus is a computer scientist serving as a technology operations engineer for the Office of Innovation. He is responsible for maintaining, simplifying, and automating the Office’s internal systems and technology. Outside of leading the operations engineering work, he also contributes to the Office’s projects as a full stack engineer.
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Oreofe Aderibigbe
Oreofe Aderibigbe is a product designer with the Office of Innovation, working on the Resident Experience Initiative. He is supporting team efforts to streamline, simplify, and improve how New Jersey delivers benefits and services to residents.
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Ruthie Nachmany
Ruthie is a product manager on the Resident Experience initiative at the Office of Innovation. She is currently focused on supporting New Jersey residents who receive unemployment insurance.
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Samuel Berin
Samuel Berin is a software engineer working in the Office of Innovation with the Business Experience team. His work focuses on enabling New Jerseyans to more quickly start businesses and manage their interactions with the State.
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Sannidhi Shukla
Sanni Shukla is a software engineer at the Office of Innovation, working on the Resident Experience Initiative to help New Jerseyans more easily and efficiently access state resources.
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Sarah Shively
Sarah Shively (she/her) serves as a product designer for the Office of Innovation’s Resident Experience Initiative team. She is working to elevate experience, accessibility, and ease of use for New Jersey residents when accessing government services and benefits through research, prototyping, and creating designs for web and mobile.
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Soma Sai Kumar Badri
Soma is a software engineer with the Office of Innovation’s Business Experience Initiative team - he is working on improving the experience of starting, operating, and growing a business in New Jersey.
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Spencer Wohlers
Spencer Wohlers (he/him) is a software engineer with the Office of Innovation, where he works to improve the experience of starting and running a business here in New Jersey. As a full-stack software engineer, he is tasked with end-to-end system improvements, from enhancing the accessibility of web-based applications to refining system performance and resiliency.
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Star Silva
Star Silva serves as a data and policy lead at the Office of Innovation, providing data analysis and a product lens to improve the design and delivery of public services to New Jerseyans.
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Tristan Vanech
Tristan Vanech is a product manager on the Resident Experience initiative at the Office of Innovation. He is currently focused on saving residents money, delivering cash benefits to lower and middle income families, and making life more affordable for New Jerseyans.
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Walker Gosrich
Walker is an AI research and management fellow working on the Data and Policy team at the Office of Innovation. He joins the Office as an Eagleton Science and Politics Fellow through the Eagleton Institute at Rutgers University. In this capacity, he brings his technical and policy expertise to help advance the responsible and effective use of AI-based tools.
