Office of InnovationOur Team
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A.J. Hyppolite
A.J. Hyppolite is a software engineer at the Office of Innovation, where she helps make government services more accessible for all New Jerseyans. Her current work on the Resident Experience Initiative helps streamline the delivery of government programs and services throughout the Garden State. She has also contributed to the Business Experience Initiative, helping to develop 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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Aditi Sharma
Aditi is a product director at the Office of Innovation. She supports a team of product managers, focused on making it easier for residents and businesses in New Jersey to access state programs and services.
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Alex Robinson
Alex Robinson serves as a design director at the Office of Innovation. He brings a human-centered, systems-thinking approach to leadership, helping design teams deliver more accessible, inclusive, and effective services for New Jersey residents.
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Amani Farooque
Amani Farooque is a product director 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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Andrew Wong-Crocitto
Andrew Wong-Crocitto (he/him) is a product designer and accessibility expert working on the Resident Experience team. His work focuses on creating services for New Jerseyans and building accessible practices within the Office of Innovation.
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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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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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Case Walker
Case Walker is a software engineer with the Office of Innovation working on the Resident Experience Initiative, currently focused on call center modernization. This includes helping call centers transition to better technology; unifying the state’s overall call center approach; creating “missing pieces” of call center functionality to support agents, residents, and call center managers; supporting data visualization and analytics; and generally allowing more residents to seamlessly get the help they need while also reducing overall call center costs.
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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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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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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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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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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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Elizabeth Zhang
Elizabeth Zhang is a software engineer working on the Residence Experience Initiative. She develops internal tools and solutions that enhance and expand the Office’s capacity to improve the lives of New Jersey residents.
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Emily Terwelp
Emily is a product manager at the Office of Innovation primarily working on the Resident Experience initiative. Her work focuses on improving New Jerseyans’ experience learning about and accessing state services, resources, and benefits.
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Graham Simpson
Graham Simpson is director of the Office of Innovation’s Data and Policy team. In that role, he works on policy and engagement work at the Office of Innovation. In that role, he produces policy research, conducts data analysis, and strategizes ways to improve ways to better understand and enhance the impact of OOI’s work on New Jersey residents. With the rest of the Data and Policy Team, Graham collaborates with internal office portfolio teams, other New Jersey State agencies and departments, and directly with office leadership. Graham has also: managed New Jersey’s COVID-19 Information Hub, drove early stage development of BasicNeeds.NJ.gov and Transgender.NJ.gov, and led the office’s innovation skills training programs.
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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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Harsh Vardhan Pachisia
Harsh serves as a data and policy lead at the Office of Innovation, where he applies data science and policy expertise to enhance the design and delivery of public services for New Jerseyans. Working at the intersection of technology, research, and governance, he uses data-driven insights to inform decision-making and drive public sector innovation.
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Heather Ferguson
Heather Ferguson is the people operations director at the Office of Innovation, where she combines strategic vision, empathy, and hands-on experience as she oversees recruitment, facilitates the development and implementation of HR policies and processes, and supports organizational growth.
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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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James Viall
James Viall is a software engineer on the Resident Experience team at the Office of Innovation. His work focuses on developing call center software for state agencies improving the number of residents served, reducing wait times for callers, and making it easier for those agencies to assist residents who need help. In addition to this, James also maintains the Office of Innovation’s website here at innovation.nj.gov.
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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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Josephine Lee
Josephine Lee is a software engineer on the Business Experience Initiative team at the Office of Innovation. In this capacity, she works to build software solutions that streamline the experience of starting and growing a business in New Jersey.
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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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Katherine Hillenbrand
Katherine serves as the director of resident experience at the Office of Innovation, leading the Office’s efforts to streamline, simplify, and improve how New Jersey delivers key benefits and services to residents.
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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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Layla Albalooshi
Layla is a product manager working at the Office of Innovation on the Business Experience Initiative. Her work focuses on improving the experience of starting, operating, and growing a business in New Jersey.
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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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Maitri Bhateja
Maitri is a product designer with the Office of Innovation’s Resident Experience Initiative. Her work focuses on leveraging her design skills and passion for community improvement to enhance the accessibility and effectiveness of New Jersey government services.
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Marc Santosusso
Marc is a product manager on the Resident Experience Initiative team at the Office of Innovation. He focuses on creating accessible solutions that reduce friction for both New Jerseyans and the agency employees who serve them.
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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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Nanette Lerner
As the creative director for the Office of Innovation Communication + Engagement Lab, Nanette leads the creative behind the marketing campaigns for a range of services, programs, and initiatives offered by the State of New Jersey. Her goal is to create work that speaks to the residents of New Jersey in an uncomplicated, authentic, memorable way.
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Nathan Osburn
Nate serves as communications director for the Office of Innovation, developing and implementing communications strategies that help the team advance its mission. This includes media relations, digital engagement, executive communications, and more.
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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 co-design director and 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 in which 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. Along with that, he’s building internal applications that responsibly use large language models and other AI technologies to efficiently add new capabilities for OOI’s teams.
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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.
