Alicia Rouault is the Director of Facing Financial Shock, a technology initiative at the United States Digital Service in the White House.
Biography
Alicia is a product and civic technology leader with over 15 years of experience leading large technology transformation teams across governments at the federal, state and local level. Her work has focused on closing the gap between public policy and technology implementation in government, with expertise in user centered design, product strategy, legacy modernization and systems change.
Alicia has directed several large federal teams at the United States Digital Service, the White House’s technology and innovation group. There she led a cross-agency program with five federal agencies to improve outcomes for Americans facing financial hardship and to provide rapid response to state governments during the pandemic with HHS-CMS. Alicia also led federal technology strategy and implementation of Unemployment Insurance Modernization with the Department of Labor and 53 states and territories to execute the American Rescue Plan.
Prior to her work at USDS, Alicia served as the Director of State and Local Government and Director of Product at 18F in GSA’s Technology Transformation Service. There, Alicia led dozens of projects with federal programs including the Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, USDA-SNAP, GSA Login.gov, and HHS-CMS-Medicaid. In California, Alicia served as Senior Advisor to Jennifer Pahlka at Code for America and CEO and founder of former technology startup, LocalData.
Alicia is an author and editor of the De-Risking Guide to Government Technology, an award winning guide on building or buying technology in government. Alicia is a former Knight News Challenge Winner in data innovation and a founding member of MIT’s Civic Data Design Lab. Alicia studied at University of Toronto in Political Science; Ethics Society and Law, and at MIT in Urban Information Studies (now Urban Science) and Housing, Community and Economic Development.
Alicia lives with her husband, daughter and chocolate lab in Philadelphia.
When there is no wind, row.
— LATIN PROVERB
Speaking
Alicia speaks publicly on civic technology, open data, and government technology.