Mark Headd to Step Down as the City’s First Chief Data Officer

Mark Headd, Philadelphia Chief Data Officer, announced via his personal blog, Civio.io, that he will be stepping down from his position in early April.

Philadelphia became one of the small number of cities to have an official open data policy rougly two years ago in April 2012, and Headd became the city’s first Chief Data Officer a few months later in August. The city is now seen as a national leader on open data and civic technology.

Headd wrote:

“It has truly been an honor and a privilege to serve this great city, and I owe a debt of gratitude to Managing Director Rich Negrin and CIO Adel Abeid for the opportunity. I look forward to continuing to do so going forward, but from outside city government.

Philly’s open data effort has always been bigger than any one person – it’s always been about the community. It’s now time for me to rejoin that community.”

Headd has not yet said specifically what he will be doing next, but wrote that he plans to stay in Philadelphia and become part of the tech and civic hacking community once again.

Learn more about open data in the video below:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObrlsMA7c3M&w=560&h=315]

(Image via Twitter)