The state’s chief executive has made two key appointments to a new office formally created with the approval of the current fiscal year budget.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has elevated two career technologists to deputy director roles in the newly created California Office of Data and Innovation – the creation of which was called for via budget change proposal in early 2022 and approved as part of the 2022-2023 Fiscal Year state budget. In the BCP, the California Government Operations Agency requested merging the state Office of Digital Innovation, the Government Excellence and Transformation Center (GET Center) and the CalData Program (CalData) into one entity.
Newsom has appointed Jeffery R. Marino, 41, of Los Angeles, as ODI deputy director, strategy; and David Blake Valenta, 38, of Oakland, as ODI deputy director of data programs and policy, his office announced Thursday.
Marino had been the office’s deputy director of service innovation since this spring; Newsom’s office announced that appointment April 20. From 2020-2022, Marino had roles at the Office of Digital Innovation that included insights program manager and insights product lead. Prior to joining the state, Marino was head of research and development for Symbihom from 2019 to 2021, and senior content lead and data journalist at ZipRecruiter from 2018 to 2019. He has a master’s of arts in literature and critical theory from the University of California, Santa Cruz. This position does not require Senate confirmation; compensation is $168,432. He is registered without party preference. Marino told Industry Insider — California via email he is “thrilled to take on this new challenge of leading our innovation strategy.”
“The ODI team is doing incredible work with our partner departments to bring the user to the center of the design process and make state services more intuitive and accessible,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the challenge to scale these efforts statewide through training, policy, and hands-on collaboration.”
Valenta had been the office’s statewide data programs manager since earlier this year and had been statewide data programs manager at CalData in 2021. Valenta was an analytics strategist for the San Francisco Chief Data Officer’s Office from 2018 to 2021; and was a research fellow at Harvard’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation from 2016 to 2018. Valenta, who was a graduate student researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles Labor Center from 2014 to 2016, has a master’s of public policy from the University of California, Los Angeles. His position does not require Senate confirmation; compensation is $168,432. Valenta is a Democrat.
“I am honored and excited to be able to help accelerate the State’s use of data in decision making via the development of programs and policies,” Valenta told Industry Insider via email. “I see my role as empowering the state’s many data teams by identifying and removing the obstacles that hinder their work.”
