Hillary Hartley (she/her)
Former Chief Executive Officer, U.S. Digital Response
Hillary Hartley has spent nearly three decades working with government and the people trying to make it simpler, faster, and better — and she’ll tell you the technology is almost never the hard part. Culture, capacity, and governance are what determine whether transformation actually sticks. Today she works through OpenPublic, speaking, advising, and coaching leaders across the public sector on how to create the conditions for that to happen.
Her career has taken her from co-founding 18F — the first digital services team inside the U.S. federal government — to serving as Ontario’s first-ever Chief Digital and Data Officer, where she built the Ontario Digital Service and operationalized the landmark _Simpler, Faster, Better Services Act_. Along the way she’s led U.S. Digital Response, helped build the U.S. Technology Transformation Service, and been recognized by Fast Company as one of their 100 Most Creative People in Business.
Hillary is co-chair of FWD50 and chairs the board of The Bridge, a nonprofit advancing civic technology. She lives in Toronto with her family, their dog, and a veritable zoo of stuffed animals.