About
I transform how complex organizations serve people—turning "impossible" into operational…
Articles by Art
-
Minneapolis Under Siege: Community Resilience in a Time of Crisis
Minneapolis Under Siege: Community Resilience in a Time of Crisis
A Conversation with Ron Harris Conducted on Zoom by Art Chang, February 3, 2026 Full video on YouTube Introduction As…
1 Comment -
Clearing the Desk
Clearing the Desk
2025: A Year of Endings and Beginnings The advice I give others facing major life inflection points is simple: clear…
19 Comments -
The Story of NYC Votes Part II: What Any Administration Can Replicate (And What They Can't)
The Story of NYC Votes Part II: What Any Administration Can Replicate (And What They Can't)
Lessons from transforming NYC's campaign finance system—and why the "gift economy" is not the answer In my previous…
2 Comments -
The Story of NYC Votes Part I: How One City Agency Strengthened Democracy Through Technology
The Story of NYC Votes Part I: How One City Agency Strengthened Democracy Through Technology
Do complex problems require complex solutions? The tools exist. The talent is available.
6 Comments -
Not My Obituary
Not My Obituary
Dear friends, Last month I was diagnosed with an extremely high risk heart condition, cardiac artery atherosclerosis…
86 Comments -
For a Faster, Fairer, More Affordable New York City: Build Tech In-house
For a Faster, Fairer, More Affordable New York City: Build Tech In-house
Who would outsource vision, leadership and culture? No one. This is the third of a multi-part series about the critical…
-
From Ideas to Priorities for a Tech Mayor: BetaNYC CityCamp's Tech Mayor Session
From Ideas to Priorities for a Tech Mayor: BetaNYC CityCamp's Tech Mayor Session
Bottom Line Up Front: Saturday's BetaNYC CityCamp unconference moved beyond the usual "government should innovate"…
4 Comments -
Cities Under Siege: Federal Abandonment Demands Local Tech Innovation
Cities Under Siege: Federal Abandonment Demands Local Tech Innovation
The Crisis is Already Here This is the second of a multi-part series about the critical role of tech in enabling a more…
3 Comments -
The Catalyst Cities Need: Mamdani's Victory Demands a Tech Movement
The Catalyst Cities Need: Mamdani's Victory Demands a Tech Movement
Why The Establishment Gets It Wrong This is the first of a multi-part series about the critical role of tech in…
3 Comments -
Democracy Won: How NYC's Campaign Finance System Beat Big Money
Democracy Won: How NYC's Campaign Finance System Beat Big Money
The story that echoed around the world: triumph for Zohran Mamdani and his supporters in his campaign the Democratic…
4 Comments
Activity
8K followers
-
Art Chang (he/him) shared thisThe more things change, the more the more important the basics become. Matt Burton puts the finger on a simple truth about public service technology. It’s not about the politicians. Or the agency heads. Or event the technology. It’s about the end users and frontline workers. Here’s the quote that nailed it: “And maybe most importantly, does your agency consider the human side of IT? In the course of an IT implementation, does anyone ever sit down with your staff--literally, your low-level line workers, in person, right next to them--and say ‘Tell me about your work’? “If not, it's no wonder that trends aren't paying off for you. The trends are real. It's the implementation that's failing you.”Art Chang (he/him) shared thisIf you're a non-technical public sector leader, here's something you need to understand about AI: It is a tech trend, and traditionally, public sector agencies fail to successfully implement tech trends. Nothing about AI makes it any different. 1990s-early 2000s: Knowledge management was the big thing. Everyone got Sharepoint. Today, your agency's Sharepoint instance is a wasteland. 2000s: Cloud computing was going to reduce your IT spend and also open a world of possibilities. Today, your cloud is governed by a big vendor who extracts exorbitant fees for simple processes that take only a few minutes in the private sector. 2010s: "Big data" was going to give everyone "key insights" about how to work better. Now you're drowning in dashboards based on dubious data. The trends are real, and some sectors truly capitalize on them. But the key is implementation. I'm always saying this: 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭. The hard part is the non-technical value chain that takes you from concept to procurement to implementation to daily use. Does your organization have a good track record of buying and delivering IT? Are they good at picking the right vendors? Do you have a good sense of the organization's IT priorities? Do you even know who sets those priorities, and where that occurs? And maybe most importantly, does your agency consider the human side of IT? In the course of an IT implementation, does anyone ever sit down with your staff--literally, your low-level line workers, in person, right next to them--and say "Tell me about your work"? If not, it's no wonder that trends aren't paying off for you. The trends are real. It's the implementation that's failing you. Enterprise technology isn't a product you buy. That might be hard to believe, given all the big promises you come across here on LinkedIn, telling you that all you have to do is start using Product X and you'll be basking in AI glory. Enterprise technology is an entire operations value chain and culture. Invest in those things before investing in trends.
-
Art Chang (he/him) shared thisWhy I'm endorsing Yuh-Line Niou for NY State Senate. It's the values. Two Asian American women are running for a State Senate seat in Lower Manhattan. This is not a story about representation (though it is that, too). It is a story about what kind of Democrat we need right now. New York is one of the richest states in the country. Yet its residents are facing SNAP cuts, Medicaid cuts, and municipal budgets that cannot balance without hollowing out the services people depend on to survive. Climate change is here as a flood map and an insurance bill. And Albany's response has been to protect the wealthiest from contributing more, to mistake caution for responsibility, and to call that moderation. It is not moderation. It is a choice. A budget is a statement of values, and New York's has been saying that the comfort of the wealthiest matters more than the survival of everyone else. And then there is immigration. The governor's proposal still allows local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE in criminal cases. Not convictions. Cases. Accusations. It could be me. Or my sons. When you hand an accused person to ICE before they have seen a judge, immigration enforcement becomes the sentence — imposed before the trial, with no appeal and no return. The New York for All Act would draw the line where it belongs. Someone has to stand up. Government needs to become more efficient. I have spent my career making it so. But efficiency is not a substitute for answering the central question: what are our values? If due process is a value, why are we negotiating it away for people who look like my mother did when she arrived in this country? I am endorsing Yuh-Line Niou because she answers that question out loud. She helped lead the Reproductive Health Act to passage. She co-led the AAPI Equity Budget, securing the first dedicated state funding for Asian American communities — 11% of New York, receiving less than 2% of social services funding. She disclosed her own sexual assault to pass the Child Victims Act and called out Cuomo as the leader of toxic masculinity. She does not trade political calculations. She shows up. Always. She is a mom. She is bold. She is interested in governing — actually governing — for all of us who need government to work. Her opponent is a capable person who I have worked well with. But this moment calls for conviction. Act now: NY's matching funds will match district resident contributions up to 12:1. Your $10 becomes $130. Your $50 becomes $650. Deadline is April 27. On my birthday I am turning 63 with the cardiac age of an 86-year-old, in a family where no man has lived past 65. On May 11, as my birthday party, I am hosting a fundraiser for Yuh-Line. You want to give me a present? Support her. (link in comments) What are our values? When do we start acting like we mean them? Who is willing to act? #NYSenate #District27 #YuhLineNiou
-
Art Chang (he/him) posted thisI'm giving a little talk tomorrow, entitled "What Music Taught Me About Knowledge. Vector RAG, Graph RAG, and twenty years of the same problem." Twenty years ago, Abby Schneiderman and Jordan Garbis brought me into their visionary insight: that music data could capture taste via a social graph. Right observation. Tools didn't exist. Almost ten years ago, I had the opportunity to apply this at JPMorgan Chase in leading the creation of the knowledge management program for the global legal department. Similar problem. Modern tools. Now, I see how this could be applied to more complex settings, say vertical search, or NYC 3-1-1. Link to RSVP is in the comments. Thanks to Jon Kokot for inviting me to speak. And thanks to Harrison Marks and Commonweal Ventures for the gathering that catalyzed this conversation!
-
Art Chang (he/him) reposted thisArt Chang (he/him) reposted thisThe Wayback Machine is being cut off from news outlets as the massive rise in webcrawlers is leading to sites to cut off all access. At the same time the Internet Archive is also targeted by webcrawlers. Public information as a common good is disappearing across the internet. The web crawlers are pulling content into proprietary AI models where the original sender is erased. Information gets recast at the same time as the trails back to the data go cold. Our media literacy practices and verification systems depend on there being information available to verify against. We need more archives, not fewer. As we can now create fake data cheaply and quickly, fact checking solutions based on gathering and exposing fake data are not enough. We need to fokus on archiving data that has provenance.
-
Art Chang (he/him) reposted thisArt Chang (he/him) reposted thisIf you use GitHub (especially if you pay for it!!) consider doing this *immediately* Settings -> Privacy -> Disallow GitHub to train their models on your code. GitHub opted *everyone* into training. No matter if you pay for the service (like I do - I am a Pro GitHub, paying customer and also paid for the Copilot addon.) Just WTH. Since when is GitHub trying to ingest all of my own private code/tests/logic (for free!) to train a model that they will then want to resell to me?? Madness. It really feels like GitHub has lost its identity, and vision, and mission. This is something that a true platform for code would simply not do. A platform trying to have their cake but also eat it would, though. You can make the change here: https://lnkd.in/eyUXGNn5 You have until April 24 to change this setting. If you forget to do so, your private code will also help train the next generation of GitHub's (and Microsoft's) AI models.
-
Art Chang (he/him) reposted thisArt Chang (he/him) reposted thisYou may have seen posts starting with, "New York is about to make a massive mistake" and it has to do with the NY State proposal to remove the QSBS tax exemption, meaning that angel investors, fund investors, and founders would be subject to state/city capital gains tax, something that is federally exempted for the first $10 million of gains and that our local tax system follows in lockstep. Everyone has a right to speak up about their own self-interest and I totally understand why someone might say, "I work really hard and created jobs by starting a company, I don't want to pay more in taxes." I wouldn't mind paying less in tax, obviously--but I know that I'm not anywhere close to making the kinds of sacrifices most people have to make more and more everyday. Plus, I honestly don't think I work harder than any of the people that deliver things to me, pick up garbage, or teach in a public school. I don't want to live in Florida, Texas or Wyoming... or New Jersey for that matter. These aren't bad places... they're just not places that would make me happy. Some tech folks will undoubtedly move across the Hudson if this passes, but I don't see them moving offices there, too. Their old NYC apartments won't stay empty for long, IMO. This weekend, I ate bagels, pizza, played ice hockey outdoors, did a duathlon, took my 4 year old for a haircut, visited my cousin and her 9 year old boy that my daughter adores--they played baseball in a park, saw a kids concert at a playground near her school and I didn't need to get in a car for any of it. I bumped into at least five random people I knew each day just walking around. My friend moved to Maine and we visited last summer. The number of six to ten minute car trips we had to make was infuriating, as was having to cross six lanes of traffic for my wife to get coffee. My personal view is also that growing inequality has reached a breaking point. People should have access to healthcare, childcare, cheaper housing and a good education--and if it means I need to pay a little more to make sure my neighbor doesn't go hungry, face housing instability, or can't afford childcare, so be it. This is a tax that would be economically meaningful to me only if I made more than my parents ever made cumulatively. For me, the bundle of what New York offers is worth more than the marginal tax savings—and I suspect that's true for more people than we admit. I haven't seen research that proves the majority of high income people prioritize tax-friendly domiciles—just anecdotes and high level numbers, not actual studies. One study I saw said that when millionaires move, they actually only lower their taxes 15% of the time. Whatever you want to sign, I respect your right to voice your opinion. - From my weekly NYC tech newsletter (https://www.next.nyc/)
-
Art Chang (he/him) reposted thisArt Chang (he/him) reposted thisCheck out this amNewYork op-ed cowritten by Maria Lizardo of Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation (NMIC), Damyn Kelly, J.D., PhD of Lutheran Social Services, and myself Chinese-American Planning Council advocating for #JustPay for human services workers and #FairPay4HomeCare workers. "Every morning in New York, before most of us have poured our first cup of coffee, hundreds of thousands of workers are already on the job. They are helping an elderly woman in Buffalo get out of bed. They are sitting with a child in foster care who had a bad night. They are supporting a man with a disability in Queens so he can live in his own apartment. There are 800,000 of them across this state, and without their labor, New York’s social safety net would not exist. "For decades, we have called these workers essential. Elected officials have applauded them and praised their dedication. What New York’s government has failed to do is pay them fairly. This is squarely in their control, as the New York State government sets contracts and wages for human services. And that failure is no longer sustainable." https://lnkd.in/eB7dBJ_AOp-Ed | NY’s human services workforce is done waiting for partial justiceOp-Ed | NY’s human services workforce is done waiting for partial justice
-
Art Chang (he/him) shared thisEn route to Better Medicare Alliance’s Medicare Advantage Forum. https://lnkd.in/ea_UuHQV (Apologies to DC friends who I don’t have time to see. Next time!)Agenda - Medicare Advantage Leadership & Policy ForumAgenda - Medicare Advantage Leadership & Policy Forum
-
Art Chang (he/him) reposted thisArt Chang (he/him) reposted thisMost people believe that people power can be activated on demand - Secure the right endorsement, - Fund the right group - Hire the right consultant And turnout to follow. After over 25 years of organizing, building coalitions, and experiencing both victories and defeats across New York, I’ve learned a harder truth: Power isn’t bought; it’s built. And building it is slow. In my Substack post, I discuss: - Why communities are not turnout machines - The difference between relational and transactional coalitions - What many donors, funders and campaign leaders get wrong about “mobilization” - And how real trust, built over months and years, is what holds when pressure is highest. From advocating for driver’s licenses for immigrants to fighting for census funding and defeating rushed tech legislation that could have harmed LGBTQ+ youth and immigrant communities - these visible wins are rooted in years of invisible relational work. If you're interested in durable power - not just momentary alignment - this post is for you. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/erDxG74N #CoalitionBuilding #Organizing #PoliticalStrategy #NonprofitLeadership #MovementBuilding
-
Art Chang (he/him) reacted on thisArt Chang (he/him) reacted on thisThat email should have been a meeting. For years the mantra has been “That meeting should have been an email.” And it made sense when the meetings were bloated status updates with 10+ people on the calendar. But AI has created a weapon of mass productivity destruction. I’m constantly getting emails full of detailed analysis and attachments that take 30+ minutes to fully read. The authors generated them in a minute with AI. And they’re sending them to dozens of people at once. The math is brutal: creation time is collapsing while consumption time is growing. So people are adapting. They’re either ignoring the emails entirely or using their own AI to absorb, summarize and respond. Which triggers another AI-generated response and so on. We’re watching AI talk to AI while the people quietly disappear from the conversation - and the solution to the topic at hand. If your AI can write it faster than your recipients can read it, you haven’t necessarily communicated. You’ve probably just dropped a bomb onto 20 other people’s to-do lists. So next time your AI drafts a 1,500 word email with a 12-slide deck attached, maybe just schedule a 20 minute meeting instead.
-
Art Chang (he/him) reacted on thisArt Chang (he/him) reacted on thisThis one hits home, hard. It's difficult for me to process the loss of Wennie Chin, an amazing former colleague and friend at both the MinKwon Center for Community Action and The New York Immigration Coalition. I first got to know Wennie when she was working with at MinKwon as a youth organizer, and then on S.J Jung's State Senate campaign back in 2016. It's a testament to her sheer talent, abilities and vision that she was managing this campaign, just a couple years after graduating college. But what was REALLY impressive was her ability to handle the campaign's self-implosion with steely grace under a lot of heavy fire from all sides. It showed me she could not only handle the actual campaign work brilliantly - but manage crises and conflicts, under serious pressure, and do so with her values intact. I still remember talking with Murad Awawdeh in 2018 about who could lead the NYIC's civic engagement work, I immediately thought of Wennie and texted her right then and there - "what are you up to nowadays?" She came on board to the NYIC soon after, and it became clear that there was nobody on the planet who could better lead that work. I was immensely grateful to her - not just for her skills, but for her ability to stay even-keeled (in the midst of the crazy coalitional politics I often found myself in), her deep passion to her social justice values - and for the energy, joy and care she showed all of her colleagues. And to me as well. Just last year, I was organizing yet another Albany lobby day - figuring out buses and pickups, sandwiches and dietary requests - and feeling overwhelmed by the logistics. So I called Wennie. Despite all the unfathomable difficulties she must've been going through, we talked through the details, and at the end she said, "It'll be fine - don't worry, we got this." And we did. So it's hard for me to grasp the fact that she's gone. An amazing bright light, out too soon. It's time we got this for her and her family too, and I hope you'll join me in supporting them. (Thank you Meeta Anand for setting this up.) https://lnkd.in/eaes5cpJ?Donate to Honoring Wennie Chin & Supporting Her Family, organized by Meeta AnandDonate to Honoring Wennie Chin & Supporting Her Family, organized by Meeta Anand
-
Art Chang (he/him) reacted on thisI lost one of my oldest friends last week. But the sad truth is, we stopped talking almost 20 years ago. I thought about him often, but reconnecting never felt right. Our paths diverged. Too many old wounds. Too much ego. And that’s exactly what I felt last week when I found the last project we worked on together amongst my archive of old work files. I designed a website, logo, and cover art for his first release on his new record label. It all came together quickly because he wanted it to debut on “07 07 07,” the name of the EP. There wasn’t much time to overthink it. We just did it. I listened to just enough of it last week to bring back all the memories. I even debated reaching out for the first time since we parted. But I didn’t. Too many old wounds. Too much ego. I woke up to an urgent message from our mutual friend on Saturday. A call confirmed the news. I spent most of the weekend in a haze. I took a long walk around London yesterday with his music in my ears. This time I listened to it from beginning to end. Like everything he did, it’s full of life and emotion: wistful, whimsical, witty, and wise. Like him, it’s absolutely brilliant. Someday, I’ll ask his family if I can re-release it on his and their behalf. It deserves a wider audience than we could manage in 2007. I wish I could ask him myself. From Saturday morning, I committed to making that call. If you ever face a similar decision, I encourage you to do the same. --- btw, that’s me on the left and him on the right on summer holiday in Myrtle Beach, circa 1989. He was just over 16, and I was just shy of it. Thick as thieves from day one.
-
Art Chang (he/him) liked thisArt Chang (he/him) liked thisGreat to be joined by experts from Vera Institute of Justice and Prison Fellowship for a conversation on prison reform, and ways that some states are trying to make prisons less violent, more humane, and more conducive to rehabilitation. For more on their work, check out our recent report: bit.ly/4bo97UR
-
Art Chang (he/him) reacted on thisArt Chang (he/him) reacted on thisA pregnant nurse practitioner's therapy app sessions just got subpoenaed and read aloud in federal court. She used Talkspace to process being fired during her ninth month of pregnancy. Two years later, her former employer produced every word she had typed to her therapist as part of their defense against her pregnancy discrimination claim. Proof News broke the story yesterday. Link in comments. The notes that ended up in court included her worries about money, her marriage, her job search. This is the exact register of disclosure SRH patients make every day, about abortion decisions, contraception, gender-affirming care, partner violence, sexual history. Talkspace did not protect her. HIPAA did not protect her. "Anonymized" did not protect her. A few things SRH leaders should sit with. Talkspace holds 140 million message exchanges. Its CEO calls it one of the largest mental health data banks in the world. The company is using those conversations to train an AI therapy companion bot it plans to release this year. Vulnerable disclosures become training data become a product sold back to vulnerable people. Teens in NYC, Seattle, and Baltimore County school districts are in that dataset. Last week I wrote that HIPAA is a disclosure framework, not a shield, and that deletion does not erase. This case is the proof of concept. A civil employer reached therapy transcripts through standard discovery. In Nebraska, Facebook messages were used to prosecute a teenager and her mother for an abortion. State attorneys general have stronger subpoena power than civil litigants, and active interest in reproductive health prosecutions in many states. If your staff are using AI tools for patient-specific work, you are creating a parallel record of patient care that lives outside your EHR and inside the reach of legal process. What to do this week: ask your team which AI tools they are currently using and for what. You cannot govern what you have not named. The next leadership agenda is where this conversation belongs. Want more context on HIPAA, AI, and how to talk to your staff about AI? Subscribe to my substack, The Body is the Interface. #ReproductiveJustice #SRH #HealthEquity #AIGovernance #PatientPrivacy #HealthcareAI
-
Art Chang (he/him) reacted on thisArt Chang (he/him) reacted on thisIf you're a non-technical public sector leader, here's something you need to understand about AI: It is a tech trend, and traditionally, public sector agencies fail to successfully implement tech trends. Nothing about AI makes it any different. 1990s-early 2000s: Knowledge management was the big thing. Everyone got Sharepoint. Today, your agency's Sharepoint instance is a wasteland. 2000s: Cloud computing was going to reduce your IT spend and also open a world of possibilities. Today, your cloud is governed by a big vendor who extracts exorbitant fees for simple processes that take only a few minutes in the private sector. 2010s: "Big data" was going to give everyone "key insights" about how to work better. Now you're drowning in dashboards based on dubious data. The trends are real, and some sectors truly capitalize on them. But the key is implementation. I'm always saying this: 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭. The hard part is the non-technical value chain that takes you from concept to procurement to implementation to daily use. Does your organization have a good track record of buying and delivering IT? Are they good at picking the right vendors? Do you have a good sense of the organization's IT priorities? Do you even know who sets those priorities, and where that occurs? And maybe most importantly, does your agency consider the human side of IT? In the course of an IT implementation, does anyone ever sit down with your staff--literally, your low-level line workers, in person, right next to them--and say "Tell me about your work"? If not, it's no wonder that trends aren't paying off for you. The trends are real. It's the implementation that's failing you. Enterprise technology isn't a product you buy. That might be hard to believe, given all the big promises you come across here on LinkedIn, telling you that all you have to do is start using Product X and you'll be basking in AI glory. Enterprise technology is an entire operations value chain and culture. Invest in those things before investing in trends.
-
Art Chang (he/him) reacted on thisArt Chang (he/him) reacted on thisFor the last month I've been talking, every day, to a chat room full of agents that live in my notes folder. I drop a Markdown file with `class: agent` in its frontmatter, and a new colleague joins the room. I can edit that file and the agent updates without a restart. The agents are reading my notes and contributing to them. Today I'm shipping it. It's called Egghead. Egghead is a knowledge base with a multi-agent system woven throughout. More technically: a record-store-first, graph-topology multi-agent system with sparse activation and kernel-enforced capability scoping, built on supervised concurrency with per-process fault isolation. I' It's the most ambitious thing I've shipped in a decade. It is free and open source. The full write-up is in the comments. If you build something with it, send me a record.
-
Art Chang (he/him) liked thisLinda is absolutely right: "....You cannot investigate and arrest your way out of a fraud ecosystem that operates at algorithmic speed....The leverage point is before the money moves — in advanced identity verification, device fingerprinting, network behavior analytics and pre-disbursement payment holds." Also: "There is also a national security dimension that has been almost entirely absent from the public conversation. When state-linked actors systematically exploit American public benefit programs, they are not simply stealing money. They are stress-testing payment infrastructure, mapping systemic weaknesses and generating revenue that funds activities hostile to U.S. interests. Treating federal fraud primarily as a domestic welfare issue, rather than as a vector for adversarial activity by foreign states, is not just a policy error. It is a strategic one." cc Galen Hines-Pierce Jordan Schneider Anne Healy Lauren Lombardo Robert GordonArt Chang (he/him) liked thisToday, Congress will markup nine bills that seek to arm the government for the fraud fight it’s in. As I write in Federal News Network, the problem the government faces is that criminal networks operate as integrated enterprises across jurisdictions, while government defenses are fragmented in agencies and states. Fraud committed against unemployment insurance may involve the same synthetic identity used to exploit small business loans and tax refunds, but the agencies managing those programs do not share real-time information with each other, let alone with financial regulators or law enforcement. Money is lost through the seams between systems. Closing them requires the kind of cross-agency data integration that is technically feasible and politically unglamorous. Government data sharing can be scary. People are understandably wary about the government collecting and sharing their personal data. But we live in a world where sophisticated criminals are weaponizing our data for financial gain every day. I commend the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for its bold action in introducing these bills.
Experience
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Education
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Licenses & Certifications
Volunteer Experience
-
Board Member
Coalition for Asian American Children and Families
- Present 4 years 6 months
Civil Rights and Social Action
I joined the Board to help CACF build a unified Asian American community too powerful to ignore through legislative successes and coalition-building with over 60 AAPI community-based organizations as partners.
-
President
Sterling Place Block Association
- 2 years 9 months
SPBA is a hyper-local community organization that advances the interests of our diverse, 1,000-resident block in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. We seek to build bridges with our neighboring communities in central Brooklyn.
-
Advisor
Trestle Collaborative
- Present 3 years 8 months
Trestle Collaborative is a nonprofit creating a future where technology amplifies people-powered movements for democracy, equity and justice. Trestle is the only organization of its kind. Trestle bridges the lack of tech talent in the progressive space with a paid talent model & focus on recruiting and retaining more diverse senior technologists to the movement. Founded by technology-for-good leaders Mollie Ruskin, Sunil Sadasivan, and Xena Ni, Trestle has partnered with over 50 movement…
Trestle Collaborative is a nonprofit creating a future where technology amplifies people-powered movements for democracy, equity and justice. Trestle is the only organization of its kind. Trestle bridges the lack of tech talent in the progressive space with a paid talent model & focus on recruiting and retaining more diverse senior technologists to the movement. Founded by technology-for-good leaders Mollie Ruskin, Sunil Sadasivan, and Xena Ni, Trestle has partnered with over 50 movement organizations, progressive tech companies, campaigns & committees, and funders, including Movement Voter Project, the Sunrise Movement, Peoples’ Action, The Movement Cooperative, Reproductive Equity Now, Power the Polls, BallotReady, Vote.org and the Lawyers Committee on Civil and Human Rights.
-
Advisory Board Member
OSET Institute, Inc.
- Present 4 years 10 months
Civil Rights and Social Action
-
Advisor and Member of Leadership Council
ioby
- Present 10 years
Civil Rights and Social Action
-
-
Chair, School Leadership Team
Brooklyn Technical High School
- Present 7 years 9 months
Education
Brooklyn Tech is one of New York City's renowned Specialized High Schools. BTHS is the largest high school in the United States by number of students and square footage, with over 6,000 students on 7 floors on about 2/3 of one city block. Over 60% of students qualify for free lunch and the majority are multi-lingual immigrants. Many will become the first in their families to attend college.
The SLT is a collaborative partnership between the school administration, faculty, parents and…Brooklyn Tech is one of New York City's renowned Specialized High Schools. BTHS is the largest high school in the United States by number of students and square footage, with over 6,000 students on 7 floors on about 2/3 of one city block. Over 60% of students qualify for free lunch and the majority are multi-lingual immigrants. Many will become the first in their families to attend college.
The SLT is a collaborative partnership between the school administration, faculty, parents and students that helps set the strategic priorities and activities for the school. -
Digital Advisory Group member and Working Group on Governance (for Fourth Regional Plan)
Regional Plan Association
- 4 years
Economic Empowerment
Since its inception nearly a century ago, RPA has conducted groundbreaking research on issues of land use, transportation, the environment, economic development, and opportunity. It has also led advocacy campaigns to foster a thriving, diverse, and environmentally sustainable region, helping local communities address their most pressing challenges.
Since the 1920s, RPA has developed groundbreaking long-range plans to guide the growth of the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan…Since its inception nearly a century ago, RPA has conducted groundbreaking research on issues of land use, transportation, the environment, economic development, and opportunity. It has also led advocacy campaigns to foster a thriving, diverse, and environmentally sustainable region, helping local communities address their most pressing challenges.
Since the 1920s, RPA has developed groundbreaking long-range plans to guide the growth of the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan area.
The Fourth Regional Plan looks ahead to the next generation. If we succeed in implementing the vision and recommendations outlined in the Fourth Regional Plan, the region will be more equitable, healthy, sustainable, and prosperous. -
Board Member
New York City Campaign Finance Board
- 8 years 8 months
Politics
The New York City Campaign Finance Board works to reduce the power of special interests in municipal elections by administering the nation's leading public financing program for candidates in municipal elections. The Board governs the works of the staff and serves as an adjudicatory body for disputes between candidates and staff.
Observing the complex challenges in audit reviews of credit card contributions to candidates motivated the Board to approve the NYC Votes project. Tipping Point…The New York City Campaign Finance Board works to reduce the power of special interests in municipal elections by administering the nation's leading public financing program for candidates in municipal elections. The Board governs the works of the staff and serves as an adjudicatory body for disputes between candidates and staff.
Observing the complex challenges in audit reviews of credit card contributions to candidates motivated the Board to approve the NYC Votes project. Tipping Point Partners, Pivotal, and Method partnered with the CFB on a pro bono basis to use technology to enhance the connections between candidates and voters and to remove friction between candidates and regulators. The software we created formed the foundation of what is now NYCVotes.org and Voting.NYC. -
Chair
New York City Voter Assistance Advisory Committee
- 5 years
Civil Rights and Social Action
VAAC’s mandate is to re-invigorate civic engagement with municipal elections by improving the voting experience. VAAC convenes the only public meeting of ordinary New Yorkers and NYC elected and appointed officials responsible for voting. VAAC operates under the NYC Campaign Finance Board.
-
Co-Founder
CUNY TAP (Technology Apprenticeship Program)
- 2 years
Education
CUNY TAP selects 20 students from the 500,000 students in the City University of New York for a competitive, one-year program that bridges traditional computer science education with the needs of the NYC tech community. TAP is taught and advised by senior technologists drawn from NYC startups, who then provide apprenticeship and employment opportunities.
-
Expert Advisor
Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation Program in Social Entrepreneurship at NYU
- 4 years
Civil Rights and Social Action
-
Member Board Of Directors
Brooklyn Public Library
- 3 years
Education
BPL would be the 8th largest public library system in the U.S., 80 branches, no more than 1/2 mile of every Brooklyn resident. Huge opportunity to provide physical and community platform for digital literacy.
-
Member Board Of Directors
Safe Horizon
- 8 years
Social Services
Safe Horizon is the largest non-profit in the U.S. focused on victims of domestic violence and child abuse and one of the first to adopt a model of integrated services.
Publications
-
Epic 3 of my Pivotal odyssey starts today
Medium.com
See publicationToday begins Epic 3, in which I will apply lessons from my Pivotal decade to build solutions for social good. Epic 2 ended on March 17, 2017, my last day as a Pivotal employee. I wrote about Epic 1 here.
I’m so grateful to Rob, Edward, Siobhan, Bill and Andrew for embracing my exploration inside Pivotal, then for gently closing the door at the right time. -
City Hall Spurns Technology That Could Save New York's Abused Children
Crain's New York Business
See publicationThe preventable death of a child from abuse or neglect is a potent symbol of government failure. But it’s a failure of leadership when caseworkers are blamed despite their not having proven and relatively low-cost technology that could have helped save that child.
-
Here's How NY Protects Incumbents from Citizen and How to Change That
The Daily Beast
See publicationThis month, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a series of commendable proposals to modernize the state’s voting system. His “Democracy Project” would “remove unnecessary barriers that prevent participation in elections” by opening voting sites for more than one day, creating an automatic voter registration system and permitting voter registration on Election Day. This makes for good political theater, since there is little chance the state legislature will do the right thing.
New…This month, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a series of commendable proposals to modernize the state’s voting system. His “Democracy Project” would “remove unnecessary barriers that prevent participation in elections” by opening voting sites for more than one day, creating an automatic voter registration system and permitting voter registration on Election Day. This makes for good political theater, since there is little chance the state legislature will do the right thing.
New York State ranks an abysmal 45th in America in voter participation, largely because our system is broken beyond repair and voters know it. It’s not that people don’t want to vote. A Gordian knot of pervasive and insidious problems have been written into laws and regulation that will require systemic reform at the state level. -
A Conversation about Product: Product Owner-Product Manager
Pivotal "Built to Adapt"
See publicationThe beating heart of a digital company is its product organization.
For tech startups, the company is indistinguishable from its product since the organization is built around that product from Day One. Hyper-growth startups find success a double-edged sword: they must prevent bursting at the seams while continually transforming a product organization to stay one step ahead of double-digit growth.
Legacy enterprises start at the other end of the spectrum. Already large…The beating heart of a digital company is its product organization.
For tech startups, the company is indistinguishable from its product since the organization is built around that product from Day One. Hyper-growth startups find success a double-edged sword: they must prevent bursting at the seams while continually transforming a product organization to stay one step ahead of double-digit growth.
Legacy enterprises start at the other end of the spectrum. Already large, enterprises are challenged with the transformation of heavy IT organizations into the nimble hearts of living digital businesses. Their struggle is to become more like startups: to go from massive projects that support operations to smaller products that are the operations.
But both seek the same end goal through digital transformation: to build coherent product organizations that propel the business forward. -
The NFL's Problems Don't End Because the Season Did
The Daily Beast
See publicationSuper Bowl, domestic violence and technology.
-
Art Chang: Should You Work at a Startup?
WSJ: The Accelerators Blog
See publicationIf you’re the right person, you don’t think of yourself as “talent;” you only think about stretching your capabilities to achieve a worthy mission.
-
Alum Spotlight: Arthur C. Chang
Yale WGSS Newsletter
See publication"I was taught that the “personal is political”. If change is a measure of success, then the political is by necessity technological. Women’s Studies has equipped me to synthesize social dynamics at scale, using technology to create tools that break down the silos that divide people and hinder social and economic progress."
Projects
-
Tech Mayor
Leading a team of experienced private sector, Federal, State and City technologists developing a comprehensive technology blueprint for New York City's next administration. We're designing the infrastructure that enables cities to deliver universal childcare, affordable housing, and essential services at unprecedented scale—while building independent capacity to serve residents regardless of federal policy shifts.
-
NYC Votes
Tipping Point Partners, Pivotal and Method are proud to have played a central role in helping the NYC Campaign Finance Board (CFB) create the NYC Votes app, a first-in-the-nation mobile application to help campaigns collect campaign contributions through their smart phones.
With NYC Votes, the CFB gains cutting-edge technology to further CFB'S mission to increase voter participation and strengthen the role of small contributors in New York City election campaigns.
The project…Tipping Point Partners, Pivotal and Method are proud to have played a central role in helping the NYC Campaign Finance Board (CFB) create the NYC Votes app, a first-in-the-nation mobile application to help campaigns collect campaign contributions through their smart phones.
With NYC Votes, the CFB gains cutting-edge technology to further CFB'S mission to increase voter participation and strengthen the role of small contributors in New York City election campaigns.
The project applies 21st century convenience and interactivity to the relationship between voters and candidates. It is a simple idea that has the potential to permanently transform the way voters interact with their government.
NYC Votes launched in 2013 and in the 2017 elections has processed over 60% of small dollar contributions.
NYC Votes was designed by Method and built by Pivotal Labs. NYC Votes will be open-sourced, in the hope that other government can apply the technologies created here to increase voter engagement in their own jurisdictions.Other creators -
-
Tipping Point Capital Advisors
-
Tipping Point Capital Advisors helped startups attract capital, operating as a registered broker-dealer. I served as Principal, FinOp Principal and Chief Compliance Officer.
-
Splendid Television
-
Television mini-series and MOW distribution and finance company founded by Doug Schwalbe. Produced VICTORIA AND ALBERT for BBC/A&E and JAMES DEAN for TNT. Acquired by Classic Media, which was acquired by Dreamworks.
Other creators -
Honors & Awards
-
Democracy in Action Award
Common Cause
-
Community Leadership Award
Citizens Union
-
National Merit Scholar
-
Other similar profiles
Explore more posts
-
DC Palter
“Hey DC — I’m raising a pre-seed at a $50M cap. Interested???” I ought to ignore the cold outreach like everyone else, but I can't help myself from replying, “Not at a $50M valuation!” “But we did a discounted cash flow analysis and calculated the valuation at $50,874,392.66.” DCF is the perfect answer to the question: tell me you know nothing about startups without telling me how you’re going to fail. But how should this founder determine the valuation of his startup? There’s a lot of methods to value startups. DCF. Berkus Method. Discount off next round. Cost to duplicate. Scorecard. Comparable transactions. Blah blah blah. None of them work. Valuation is not a calculation. It’s a negotiation. The only method that works is what I'll call the Palter Valuation Process. It's a process rather than a formula, with the following simple steps: 1. Determine your stage. Honestly. Based on customer traction rather than wishful thinking. Is this raise a friends & family & network (no traction yet), pre-seed (initial sales), seed ($100K+ ARR), or Series A ($4M+ ARR)? 2. Find typical valuations for your stage, sector, and geography. Look at both the median and ranges. Use the incredibly helpful data from Carta (thank you Peter Walker and Carta) plus whatever you can find from Pitchbook, Crunchbase, investment banks, and VCs that follow your sector. 3. Adjust within the ranges based on your traction and risk factors. 4. Check with a few trusted advisors who invest regularly at your stage to see if they think your proposed valuation will be attractive to investors in their network. 5. Begin pitching to potential lead investors. Negotiate the valuation and other investment terms. 6. See if the valuation attracts follow-on investors to fill the round. If not, renegotiate with the lead investor and other investors to set the final valuation. Keep in mind that valuation is just one piece the investment puzzle. Liquidation preference frequently determines how much (if anything) founders and employees get in an exit and is arguably more important than valuation. Investment vehicle (preferred shares, common shares, SAFE, convertible note) make a big difference to investors and will affect the valuation we find attractive. Full details on the Palter Valuation Process in the following article: http://bit.ly/3UAIwMw
23 Comments -
Tatiana Preobrazhenskaia
Innovation in the "Femtech" Space: How Women-Led Startups are Solving Neglected Health Issues. View My Portfolio. For decades, significant aspects of women's health were sidelined as "niche" concerns. No longer. The rise of Femtech—technology-driven health solutions focused on women's needs—is a powerful market correction, and it's being led by women. At V For Vibes, we are inspired by the founders who are turning personal frustration into global innovation. They are building companies that address long-ignored areas, from reproductive health and menstrual care to menopause and sexual wellness. Why does this matter for business? Market Opportunity: Women make 80% of healthcare decisions. This isn't a niche; it's a powerhouse economic engine. Diverse Leadership: Women-led startups bring essential lived experience to the table, creating products that truly resonate. Investment in Impact: Supporting Femtech isn't just good ethics; it's smart economics, funding solutions for half the world's population. The success of Femtech proves that when we diversify leadership, we unlock innovation that changes lives and dominates new markets. #Femtech #WomenInTech #WomenFounders #HealthTech #Innovation #SexualWellness #InvestInWomen #BusinessStrategy #Startups #VForVibes #DigitalHealth
7 Comments -
Katy Nelson
One of the most important conversations I heard in Davos today wasn’t about more AI. It was about whether we trust the systems we’re building enough to deploy them at scale. At a Rethinking Risk session at Davos 2026, leaders from media, government, multilateral institutions, and global finance kept circling the same concern: the erosion of trust. The conversation included Ravi Agrawal, Editor-in-Chief, Foreign Policy; Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); Amer Bisat, Minister of Economy and Trade, Republic of Lebanon; Amb. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Federal Republic of Nigeria; Stephanie von Friedeburg, Managing Director & Global Head of Public Sector, Citi. Across very different vantage points, the message was consistent: misinformation, selective or low-quality data, and a growing post-truth environment are undermining consensus, multilateralism, and sound risk analysis. When trust erodes: — due diligence weakens — uncertainty rises and risk premia increase — fact-based decision-making breaks down for governments and businesses alike The key takeaway: AI doesn’t fail at deployment because the models aren’t powerful enough. It fails when the systems around it aren’t trusted. Rebuilding trust isn’t just a technical challenge. It requires rigorous verification and higher-quality data; transparent analytics and governance; and inclusive, cross-stakeholder consensus-building. As the World Economic Forum continues to emphasize, trust isn’t a soft value layered onto innovation. It’s a prerequisite for scale, resilience, and long-term economic coordination. If we want AI to reduce risk rather than amplify it, we have to start by designing systems people and institutions can trust. That may be the hardest work ahead. And also the most important.
3 Comments -
Conor Grennan
What might new AI roles look like? My colleague Rob Seamans at NYU Stern School of Business contributed to a fascinating The New York Times Magazine piece - Here are the roles: The article by Rob Capps identifies three areas where humans will be needed for trust, integration, and creative direction. ++++++++++ 22 NEW AI-ERA JOBS: >> Trust-Centered Roles 1. AI Auditor Analyzes AI decision-making processes, documents them for technical and liability purposes. 2. AI Translator Bridges AI capabilities with leadership to enable informed management decisions. 3. Trust Authenticator Verifies AI-generated content in legal docs, focusing on AI's unique error patterns. 4. AI Ethicist Builds logic chains supporting AI-driven decisions for investors, managers, customers, etc. 5. Legal Guarantor Human accountability on AI-generated contracts, plans, and critical documents. 6. Consistency Coordinator Ensures AI maintains accuracy across multiple outputs. 7. Escalation Officer Steps in when AI lack necessary empathy in customer service. >> Integration Specialists 8. AI Integrator Maps AI technology capabilities to business needs. 9. AI Plumber Diagnoses and repairs complex AI systems when they malfunction. 10. AI Assessor Evaluates AI models, tracking improvements and optimal use cases. 11. Integration Specialist Connects customer problems to AI solutions. 12. AI Trainer Helps AI systems learn from org data and respond within business contexts. 13. AI Personality Director Shapes organizational AI communication style as brand identity elements. 14. Drug-Compliance Optimizer Oversees AI-driven systems ensuring patients take correct medications at proper times. 15. AI/Human Evaluation Specialist Determines optimal combinations of AI and human capabilities across tasks. >> Taste and Creative Direction Roles 16. Product Designer Owns product vision while AI handles execution 17. Article Designer Curates AI-generated content options into narratives through creative direction. 18. Story Designer Concentrates on narrative vision in film and television while AI manages technical. 19. World Designer Creates fictional universes for marketing/entertainment, directing AI execution. 20. HR Designer Shapes org culture through AI-enhanced training materials and employee experiences. 21. Civil Designer Focuses on creative and aesthetic infrastructure aspects while AI handles specifications. 22. Differentiation Designer Helps businesses stand out through unique brand expression. Many of these roles don't require starting from scratch - they build on existing skills while expanding into new territories. +++++++++ UPSKILL YOUR ORGANIZATION: When your organization is ready to create an AI-powered culture—not just add tools—AI Mindset can help. We drive behavioral transformation at scale through a powerful new digital course and enterprise partnership. DM me, or check out our website.
42 Comments -
Alberto Giusti
I am pleased to join the upcoming New England Venture Summit for a panel discussion on a topic that shapes the long-term trajectory of every startup: the art of negotiating term sheets. Too often, founders approach term-sheet negotiations as a purely financial step. In reality, it is the moment when you define the relationship, expectations, and governance structure that will accompany your company for years. It is not just about valuation; it is about alignment, trust, and clarity. In this session, we will explore what entrepreneurs should understand before sitting at the table, how to avoid the most common pitfalls, and how to build a partnership that supports long-term growth. Whether it is a first round or a follow-on, preparation is everything. Looking forward to the conversation and to meeting founders and investors who are shaping the next wave of innovation. Event details: New England Venture Summit Panel: The Art of Negotiating Term Sheets - 10th December - Boston P3Ventures
-
Jennifer Jordan
Dario Amodei, CEO Anthropic's most recent essay on "The Adolescence of AI" (https://lnkd.in/eaVnXJ68) gives a clear account of his views on proceeding thoughtfully and pragmatically to address AI risks and uncertainty balanced with opportunity. Amodei is clear on his approach establish a set of principles and values, a Constitutional AI (https://lnkd.in/eQ2bHh9x), that allows for surgical interventions to protect humans and human values. Anyone who studies ethics knows that an agreed, cross-cultural, cross-political human code is fraught, but providing models a framework wherein this striving is part of how they work seems a much better path than none at all.
4 Comments -
Deborah Lynn Blumberg
My latest for PBS Next Avenue. "Balasubramaniam, along with other founders in their fifties and up, are finding that modern accelerators and pitch competitions aren't only for 20-something tech founders. The experiences, which often include structured mentorship and investor access, are helping mid-career or encore entrepreneurs reinvent themselves and build thriving businesses, too." https://lnkd.in/eNFr4Q9d
Explore top content on LinkedIn
Find curated posts and insights for relevant topics all in one place.
View top content