Jennifer Pahlka is the founder and executive director of Code for America, a national non-profit that believes that government can work for the people, by the people, if we all help. She recently served as the US Deputy Chief Technology Officer in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she architected and helped start the United States Digital Service. 

She is known for her TED talk, Coding a Better Government, and the recipient of several awards, including MIT’s Kevin Lynch Award, the Oxford Internet Institute’s Internet and Society Award, and the National Democratic Institute’s Democracy Award. She spent eight years at CMP Media, where she ran the Game Developers Conference, Game Developer magazine, Gamasutra.com, and the Independent Games Festival. 

Jennifer is a graduate of Yale University and lives in Oakland, California with her daughter and husband.