AmeriCorps hired its first chief data officer (CDO) in FY 2021 to improve data governance, collection, sharing and analysis. Since then, the CDO has tackled longstanding data management priorities, including enhancing the agency’s data analytics capacity and establishing a structure to coordinate data integrity, performance and research efforts across AmeriCorps.

AmeriCorps has implemented a robust Data Governance Framework to guide its data management strategy, using a tiered and tailored approach. The Research and Evaluation Council and Strategic Advisory Board support this framework. The Strategic Advisory Board, led by senior executives, including the chief data officer, chief of staff, chief operating officer, chief modernization officer, chief program officer, and director of the Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE), provides leadership and guidance to advance data-driven decision-making. This board ensures AmeriCorps’ data initiatives align with the organization’s goals and stakeholder needs.

The Data Governance Council (DGC) serves as the collaborative core of the Data Governance Framework, co-chaired by the CDO and the Director of ORE. The DGC unites business units across AmeriCorps to foster consistent data definitions and manage data as “enterprise assets” that benefit the entire organization rather than remaining siloed within individual departments.

ACF created the Office for Planning, Research and Evaluation’s Division of Data and Improvement (DDI) in 2016 to provide leadership and resources to improve the quality, use and sharing of agency data. The director of DDI, who also currently serves as ACF’s acting chief data officer, provides that leadership. She oversees work assisting ACF programs in responsibly managing and using data to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of human services programs. The director of DDI was designated to act as the primary member to serve on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Data Governance Board and the Data Council.

The director of ACL’s Office of Performance and Evaluation leads data governance and coordinates activities among agency stakeholders with data needs and responsibilities. This role requires expertise in data management, governance, collection, analysis, protection, use, and dissemination. Key responsibilities include working with ACL’s chief information officer and chief privacy officer to ensure data use, protection, dissemination, and generation align with agency goals, maintaining best practices for data management, engaging stakeholders in public data use, and encouraging collaborative approaches on improving data use. The director also represents ACL in federal groups like the HHS Data Council and the HHS Data Governance Board and participates in General Services Administration’s chief data officer activities.

The director of the agency’s Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality (CBHSQ) serves as the chief data officer, overseeing SAMHSA’s survey and surveillance datasets and playing a key role on the SAMHSA Evidence and Evaluation Board (SEEB).

SAMHSA’s 2023-2026 Data Strategy outlines the creation of a Data Governance Board (DGB) to implement and monitor the success of the strategy. Led by CBHSQ, the DGB includes experts from each of SAMHSA’s Centers and Offices and aligns with SAMHSA’s Strategic Plan, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Strategic Plan and Data Strategy, as well as federal laws and executive orders. The DGB will aims to improve the accessibility, quality and reliability of SAMHSA’s data, with a core focus on fostering intra-agency collaboration and innovation in data use and investment.

ED has executive leadership and a governance structure that is responsible for coordinating data governance, collection, sharing and analysis. The Office of the Chief Data Officer (OCDO) is led by the chief data officer (CDO), whose responsibilities include lifecycle data management and developing and enforcing data governance policies. The OCDO has oversight over ED’s information collection approval and associated White House Office of Management and Budget clearance process, except where those functions have been delegated to the statistical official as required by the Evidence Act. The OCDO is responsible for developing and enforcing the agency’s open data plan, including management of a centralized, comprehensive data inventory accounting for all data assets across the department.

The ED Data Governance Board (DGB) sponsors agency-wide actions to develop an open data culture. It works to improve ED’s capacity to leverage data as a strategic asset for evidence-building and operational decisions, including developing the capacity of data professionals in program offices. It is chaired by the CDO, with the statistical officer, evaluation officer, and performance improvement officer as ex-officio members. The evaluation officer, CDO, and statistical officer meet monthly for the purposes of ensuring ongoing coordination of Evidence Act work. Each leader or designee also participates in the performance improvement officer’s Strategic Planning and Review process. Additionally, the tactical Data Coordinator Council, established under the DGB charter with representation from each principal office, facilitates the execution of DGB policies, ED’s Data Strategy, data maturity improvements across principal offices, and the development of solutions to tactical challenges assigned by the DGB.

DOL has a designated leader and team responsible for coordinating data governance, collection, sharing and analysis. The agency’s chief data officer (CDO) chairs DOL’s data governance body and leads data governance and open data efforts. The CDO also leads efforts to collect, manage and utilize data in a manner that best supports its use to inform program administration and foster data-informed decision making and policymaking.

DOL has created a data governance structure that coordinates and leverages important roles within the organization to accomplish objectives like those in the Evidence Act. DOL’s evidence officials closely coordinate with both regular and ad hoc meetings. For example, in FY 2019, all four evidence officials reviewed DOL agency learning agendas and Evidence Act reports.

DOT has an executive leadership structure that governs data management, collection, sharing and analysis. The chief data officer (CDO), housed within the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), oversees data governance and compliance, serving as a data strategist and steward to enhance data quality, foster data sharing, and develop new data products. In addition, DOT’s statistical officer, who also directs the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, leads efforts to compile and publish transportation statistics in alignment with the Evidence Act and guided by the Secretary’s strategic objectives.

The OCIO coordinates DOT’s data governance activities, including life cycle data management and applying data and technology to advance safety and infrastructure goals. It leads various working groups, such as the Departmental Data Governance Working Group and a geospatial leaders’ group, which meet monthly to address guidelines, processes, and resource needs to ensure data excellence across DOT. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics also contributes to data governance by fulfilling legislative requirements to provide a comprehensive set of transportation statistics supported by the White House Office of Management and Budget’s Statistical Policy Directives. These structures strengthen DOT’s data governance to support its mission and improve operational effectiveness.

The agency’s director of Data and Product Management in the Office of the Chief Information Officer serves as the chief data officer. The MCC Evaluation Management Committee (EMC) oversees decision making, integration and quality control of the evaluations and programs. This entails collecting, sharing and analyzing data used for program evaluation and informing future programmatic decisions. The EMC ensures that evaluations are effectively aligned with program design and implemented in a manner that increases their utility to MCC, in-country and external stakeholders. The committee includes the evaluation officer, chief data officer, monitoring and evaluation representatives, the project lead, sector specialists, the economist, and gender and environmental safeguards staff. Each evaluation involves 11 to 16 EMC meetings, from reviewing the scope of work to publishing the final evaluation.

MCC also follows its Guidelines for Transparent, Reproducible, and Ethical Data and Documentation (TREDD). As part of TREDD and the data-sharing process, the agency utilizes the Disclosure Review Board to ensure that data collected by MCC is made public according to the relevant laws and ethical standards that protect research participants, while recognizing the potential value of the data to the public.

MCC’s results framework includes evaluation, financial and procurement data to foster learning, accountability and transparency through the EMC and TREDD process.

The chief data officer (CDO) manages the USAID Data Services team, which focuses on improving the usage of data and information to ensure that the agency’s development outcomes are supported and enhanced by evidence. In September 2019, USAID established a Data Administration and Technical Advisory (DATA) Board. The DATA Board acts as USAID’s data governance body. It serves as a central venue for seeking input from agency stakeholders regarding data-related priorities and best practices to support agency objectives. It informs data-related policies, procedures and standards at the agency. The chief data officer, the chief evaluation officer, and the statistical official meet regularly (weekly/monthly). Additionally, the agency established a standing meeting with the chief data officer’s team and leadership from the Office of Learning, Evaluation and Research, which manages agency requirements related to performance monitoring, evaluation and organizational learning.