Leading equitable digital transformation since 2000.
Growing visionaries + high-performing organizations with leadership by design.
2021
— Present
I’m an executive who leads digital transformation with leadership by design. I bring people and data together to make big visions a reality. My passion is improving the health of our health organizations with improved and more equitable work experience (WX). Sustained positive change grows from the inside out.
Business leaders cannot solve today’s challenges with the methods of yesterday. How employees work is customer experience. I help leadership teams deliver exceptional results by connecting high-impact partnerships across business units and leading effective change management efforts.
As a Principal with Medallia in Health and Public Sector, I worked alongside dozens of leaders in healthcare, life sciences, and government. I coached leadership teams on best practices to leverage people-centered analytics to take action and improve digital operational experiences. Our teams elevated the human experience by putting people’s voices at the center of daily operations. We organized our priorities around the voice of employees and customers. In doing this, we delivered better outcomes. This inclusive work resulted in over $33M in revenue in one year. Expanding mindsets and growing a culture of care are keys to solving seemingly unbeatable problems.
During the peak COVID-19 global public health crisis, I served as Chief of People and Culture at the U. S. Food and Drug Administration, with the GSA IT Modernization Centers of Excellence, I worked with tech and data leadership teams to advance new ways of working and culture transformation. Digital transformation begins and ends with people. We feel culture through work experiences. We work better when we feel that we matter. When people feel a sense of belonging, whether remotely or in-person, they are more likely to deliver better services and experiences. At the FDA, we brought diverse leaders together to refresh mindsets and accelerate positive change for a healthier future. We proved that redesigning government begins from within.
Future of Work 2.0 Salon at the Singapore Embassy in Washington D.C. with the Estonian Ambassador and U.S. Government leadership. Event led by the Institute for Education.
Prototyping the future of work experiences allows us to try new methods, policies, and products on for size and fit. As Director of Workforce Solutions at U.S. General Services Administration’s Centers of Excellence, I developed next-generation talent: leaders and adaptive teaming by learning and design. We prototyped new ways of working nearly a dozen federal agencies. We learned how to effectively use data, improve governance and interoperability, prepare for artificial intelligence (AI), and implement more inclusive management. (Check out the policy guidance and documentation here at digital.gov)
Collaborative leadership session with IT Centers of Excellence at U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington D.C.
2017
— 2019
From 2017 to 2019, I served as a White House Presidential Innovation Fellow where I led health tech public-private partnerships (shout out to friends at Microsoft!) which were part of collaborative work in Vice President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot. Because most health and life science challenges are rooted in how people work together and collaborate, I invested tremendous energy in leadership workforce transformation at the National Institute of Health’s National Cancer Institute.
During this time, my teams brought diverse stakeholders together to redesign patient experiences. We led cross-cutting teams. Interdisciplinary teams of leaders from bioinformatics data operations, contact centers, operations, communications, medical care teams, and more. Much of this centered in AI-enabled precision medicine and cancer clinical trials. In order to deliver on the promise of better patient experience, we must improve the health workforce work experience.
The future of our health rests in how the health workforce works together, better. We discovered the solution to better patient outcomes ultimate connects to how leaders work together.
During this time, I started to understand more about brain science —our brains play powerful roles in organizational development. While at the NIH, I also served as a mentor for health entrepreneurs-in-residence at Sibley Memorial Hospital. In 2018, I joined the Board of Directors of Public Invention to grow collaborative teams that make life saving inventions in the public, for the public.
Public Invention demo of a socially responsible invention with open and free hardware. Emerging inventors are supported by a network of coaches.
2007
— 2017
From 2007 - 2017, I co-founded and was the CEO of The Work Department, a social innovation consulting firm. During that time, we invented and built people-centered solutions in emerging technology infrastructure. Leveraging tools such as design thinking, entrepreneurship, strategic planning, and inclusive leadership, I developed multimillion-dollar public-private partnership projects with organizations like The Kresge Foundation, BMW Foundation, Robert Bosch Foundation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT Center for Civic Media, MIT Fab Labs, MIT School of Architecture and Planning), Lear Corporation automotive seating and e-systems, New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute and Resilient Communities, U.S. Department of State, and city governments across the world.
Public Design Trust, co-sponsored by The Work Department, led the Footwork at the Saint-Étienne international design biennial to explore the future of partnerships and collaboration in network-based economic development.
An inclusive and diverse development conversation with citizens and government officials at the Allied Media Conference.
During my tenure in rebuilding my hometown of Detroit, I served on the Design Core Board where I helped to lead the UNESCO Detroit City of Design designation and economic development planning. As a member of the Transatlantic Core Group, a German-US leadership network, I opened international talent pipeline opportunities around vocational education and apprenticeships. Realizing the role placemaking plays in bringing people together to make dreams come true, I also co-founded Detroit’s first Hackerspace, OmniCorpDetroit in 2009. The people and businesses incubated in this space continue to play a strategic role in boosting Detroit’s role distributed manufacturing and creative supply chain within the global maker movement. During this time, I was also a co-founding member of the Detroit Digital Justice Coalition where we secured $1.8 million dollars in the broadband stimulus fund to connect America’s communities. For nearly 10 years, I helped to scale the vision and work of Allied Media Projects who has a world-renowned track record for convening the largest and most innovative global network creative technology users who believe in making a more just and creative world.
Wasan Island with the BMW Transatlantic Core Group, an emerging leaders program fostering transatlantic partnerships.
“You are like the Mr. Miyagi of Workforce Development. You teach us how to wax on, wax off, paint the fence, and next thing you know, we know karate!”
— Calvert Smith, Director of Cloud Adoption
How do we value the connectors and makers — the creative leaders who form and make relationships? Behind every great product, there are networks of people holding the relationships together.
I’ve led thousands of workshops in my career. Listening and inclusive learning can make a big difference.
"Thank you again for the terrific presentation! We’ve already implemented some of your suggestions upon our return to the office."
— Karen B. Filipponi, Former Chief Human Capital Officer, U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
"Nina challenges employers to look deeply into their workforce development plans and helps highlight opportunities to amplify their culture and empower their employees. Wherever you thought your company was before, Nina comes to the table with ideas for a remodel to take your culture from stagnant to vibrant and thriving.”
— Rachel Jackson, Project Management Professional