Jennifer Pahlka, the founder and executive director at Code for America who served for the past year as the deputy chief technology officer for government innovation at the White House, has left the building.
In a Twitter post May 30, Pahlka said goodbye to the Old Executive Office Building, where she worked for the past year, and “the truly amazing people” who work there. Her departure from the Office of Science and Technology Policy comes exactly one year from her initial appointment to help U.S. CTO Todd Park move the administration’s technology innovation agenda forward.
Pahlka founded Code for America in 2009 as a way to connect technologists with cities to collaborate on government innovation – much like White House’s own Presidential Innovation Fellows program, now in its second year. The decision to enter public service was “out of a deep respect for the heroes and heroines in government,” Pahlka wrote in a blog post at the time of her appointment. She called it her “own fellowship year of sorts.”
OK, DC, peace out for now. You be good. Remember to write. (at @dulles_airport w/ 54 others) http://t.co/QvqRMlnFWF — Jennifer Pahlka (@pahlkadot) May 30, 2014
Code for America did not immediately return FedScoop’s request for comment on Pahlka’s future plans.