Eric Roche

Eric Roche (MPA 2014)
2023 Edwin O. Stene Award for Managerial Excellence Co-Winner

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"Over a decade ago, I became acquainted with Eric prior to his enrollment at the University of Kansas. Today, in my role as a faculty member at Auburn University (AU), I have grown to admire Eric’s clear commitment to transparency, performance management, and the use of data-driven decision-making. Moreover, many in the Kansas MPA family, have been impressed by his willingness to utilize data to ensure transparency of local government operations as well as his dedication to efficiently serving the citizens of the Kansas City, Missouri, Pearland, Texas, and now at the U.S. Treasury. Simply put, Eric is a leader in the broader public service community and is very much deserving of this recognition."
- -- Jon Fisk (MPA 2009)

About Eric  —

In 2013, Eric’s local government career began in the City of Kansas, Missouri via a Cookingham-Noll Management Fellowship. Within two years, he transitioned to become the City’s first Chief Data Officer within the Office of Performance Management. Under Eric’s purview was the ambitious goal of “using data to uncover relationships, communicate ideas and improve performance.” To accomplish this broad goal, Eric developed the Open Data KC platform, which enables users to access disaggregated neighborhood-level data including crime and 311 reports.

Following five years in Kansas City, Eric began serving as Budget Officer for the City of Pearland. Here, he again used data-driven management to help city leaders make decisions relative to the distribution resources, identifying and implementing improvements in operational efficiencies and equity, and building transparency.

Nomination of Eric Roche  —

Submitted by: -- Jon Fisk (MPA 2009)

Please accept this correspondence as an enthusiastic endorsement of Eric Roche for an Edwin O. Stene Award for Managerial Excellence. Eric, as evidenced through his work at the Cites of Kansas City, Missouri and Pearland, Texas. Over a decade ago, I became acquainted with Eric prior to his enrollment at the University of Kansas. Today, in my role as a faculty member at Auburn University (AU), I have grown to admire Eric’s clear commitment to transparency, performance management, and the use of data-driven decision-making. Moreover, many in the Kansas MPA family, have been impressed by his willingness to utilize data to ensure transparency of local government operations as well as his dedication to efficiently serving the citizens of the Kansas City, Missouri, Pearland, Texas, and now at the U.S. Treasury. Simply put, Eric is a leader in the broader public service community and is very much deserving of this recognition.



In 2013, Eric’s local government career began in the City of Kansas, Missouri via a Cookingham-Noll Management Fellowship. Within two years, he transitioned to become the City’s first Chief Data Officer within the Office of Performance Management. Under Eric’s purview was the ambitious goal of “using data to uncover relationships, communicate ideas and improve performance.” To accomplish this broad goal, Eric developed the Open Data KC platform, which enables users to access disaggregated neighborhood-level data including crime and 311 reports.

Eric’s work has already been recognized by Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government (KSG) What Works Cities Certification program. Writing on behalf of KSG, Eric Bosco describes Eric’s role as: “When Chief Data Officer Eric Roche realized how much time he was spending updating out-of-date, non-automated open data in the city’s portal, he embarked on a project to understand and inventory the data in all departments to develop a more systematic approach to open data publishing in the city. Roche took a methodical approach to building the inventory: he drew on the relationships he had built through the performance management program, asked for organizational charts, and talked to individual departmental representatives. Roche acknowledged that not all department officials were data systems experts, but nonetheless, he and his team were able to find the answers they needed: “We asked what kind of work the departments do, how they track that work, where they store it and then backed our way into the more technical questions.”



This process has proved fruitful; Roche has been able to identify people who “speak data”in several city departments and this has led to positive relationships that yield results beyond the inventory. This peer-to-peer work in the city government has been the key ingredient in the building of a comprehensive data inventory for Kansas City. Roche said that the biggest lesson he learned was to “start small” the city originally planned to complete an inventory of seven departments in 60 days, but adapted the plan to incorporate departments in an ongoing way that also builds capacity for data in other city departments.



Roche said the development of a citywide data inventory has given the city a thorough, well-documented resource that facilitates a more effective open data strategy. It allows the city to prioritize data releases based on key priorities and what can be automated, instead of just the low-hanging fruit. Technical difficulties are a common barrier to publishing certain city datasets, Roche said, as data systems are not always compatible with publishing online, but the inventory has served as a critical resource for the city in navigating such challenges.”



Source: https://datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/news/article/how-kansas-citys-data-in…



Following five years in Kansas City, Eric began serving as Budget Officer for the City of Pearland. Here, he again used data-driven management to help city leaders make decisions relative to the distribution resources, identifying and implementing improvements in operational efficiencies and equity, and building transparency.

Eric is a leader in the public management field, a wonderful public servant, a tireless advocate for data transparency, and exemplifies a commitment to managerial excellence. He also demonstrates a commitment to a set of values that exemplify the spirit of service that the Stene Award requires.