At the end of 2019, following a comprehensive set of recommendations from a mayoral task force, an executive order was passed focusing on how NYC should manage automated decision systems — algorithms and other emerging technologies — to deliver city services.
A city as complex as New York requires innovative technology and data analytic solutions — algorithmic tools may be called on to inform a range of decisions: the matching of students to schools, for example, or scheduling buildings for fire safety inspections.
But innovations in technology often move quickly, and to keep up with the benefits these tools can provide, NYC is building first-in-the-nation principles to ensure they are deployed in accurate, fair, and transparent ways.
Join us for a conversation on how NYC is strengthening fair and responsible practices into its use of algorithmic tools to inform service delivery for New York residents, their communities, and their businesses, and how tech leaders and public leaders can work together to build technology solutions that are innovative and accountable.
Alex Foard became the City’s Algorithms Management and Policy Officer in February 2021, after working to manage the City-led ADS Task Force and launch the City’s first ever Executive Order 50 compliance process.
Alex began his City service at the Office of Management and Budget as part of the team managing the City’s $4.2 billion Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery program. He then spent over three years at the NYC Department of Correction as the director of the Performance Management and Analytics Unit. He then became a senior advisor in the Mayor’s Office of Operations, where he served as the project lead for the NYC Automated Decisions Task Force, before transitioning into leading the implementation of Executive Order 50, which created the AMPO position and established the mandate for an algorithms management framework for City agencies.
He received his BA from the University of Rochester in political science, and his MPA in Urban/Social Policy and Quantitative Analysis from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.
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Mark Masongsong is the CEO of UrbanLogiq, a is a cloud-based software platform that integrates and visualizes data to provide fast insights for governments. We work with agencies ranging from municipalities under 100,000 in population, to regional governments, states and provinces, and many agencies in-between, enabling public officials to make faster, more affordable, and accurate decisions with data.
With a decade in government and politics, Mark has been a featured speaker on the future of smart cities and analytics at the White House, World Bank, State Department and Harvard Smart Cities Accelerator. Mark has served as a director of international development, environmental and medical research charities and was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal.
