The Digital Transformation of Government Services — How Fast, How Far?
Webinar with David Eaves, Anant Gadia and Shaifa Kanji
Sponsored by:
The COVID-19 pandemic forced governments to expand their digital services so that Canadians could be served as safely and efficiently as possible, but there is still much work to be done. The C.D. Howe Institute invites you to join us on Tuesday, May 31 to hear an expert panel discuss the progress made since March 2020 and the challenges in expanding digital government services.
C.D. Howe Institute events are open to members and their guests.
Please follow this link or contact events@cdhowe.org to register.
David Eaves, Lecturer in Public Policy, The Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University
David Eaves is a public policy entrepreneur and expert in information technology and government.
In 2009, as an adviser to the Office of the Mayor of Vancouver, David proposed and helped draft the Open Motion which created one of the first open data portals in Canada and the world. He subsequently advised the Canadian government on its open data strategy where his parliamentary committee testimony laid out the core policy structure that has guided multiple governments approach to the issue. He has gone on to work with numerous local, state, and national governments advising on technology and policy issues, including sitting on Ontario's Open Government Engagement Team in 2014–2015.
In addition to working with government officials, David served as the first Director of Education for Code for America — training each cohort of fellows for their work with cities. David has also worked with 18F and the Presidential Innovation Fellows at the White House providing training and support.
With a background in negotiation, David also advises non-profits and advocacy groups on critical negotiations. He developed and helped implement collaborative strategies for open source communities such as Drupal and Mozilla. He served as a negotiation adviser to a coalition of Canadian environmental government organizations during two years of negotiations with the Forestry Products Association of Canada (FPAC) which helped cement the ground-breaking Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement. David subsequently served as a mediator and facilitator on critical implementation committees for the agreement.
In 2018, he was named one of 20 most influential on Apolitical’s "World’s 100 Most Influential People in Digital Government."
Anant Gadia, Managing Director, Strategy and Consulting – Canadian Public Service, Accenture Canada
Anant leads Accenture’s Digital Strategy, Transformation, and Innovation efforts for our Public Service clients in Canada. Over the past decade, he has partnered with public service organizations and financial institutions across Canada and the US in leading many enterprise digital strategy and transformation initiatives. This includes technology-powered business transformation, cloud strategy and transformation, as well as emerging technology and innovation accelerators. These transformations have driven enhanced experiences for citizens, customers, and employees.
Over his career, he has focused on building and sustaining relationships with our clients as a trusted transformation leader and partner throughout their digital journey. He has focused on being genuine, authentic, and transparent – and has become invaluable to the organizations he works with.
Being a mentor is critical to success; Anant actively works to coach and guide members of his teams at all levels, as well as executives and individuals outside of Accenture.
Anant lives in the Greater Toronto Area and he is passionate about this community. He is involved in several corporate citizenship initiatives, including United Way / Giving campaigns, housing / homelessness initiatives, as well as social innovation and sustainability projects.
Shaifa Kanji, Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Digital Officer, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
Shaifa Kanji assumed her role as Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Digital Officer of the Digital Transformation and Services Sector (DTSS) of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED) on Aug 9, 2021. She began her career in public service in 2011 and has led the digital transformation of Municipal Government (Region of Peel) and not-for-profit (Toronto and Region Conservation Authority) including establishing the vision and strategic technology direction for these organizations within a highly complex, political and multi-stakeholder environment.
Before joining the public sector, Shaifa spent her career across multiple sectors – telecommunications, (Bell Canada), financial (Royal Bank) and consulting (Accenture). Those experiences gave her a broad perspective on the critical elements required to drive change and transformation in complex organizational structures.
Shaifa holds an Executive MBA from The Western Ivey School of Business and a Computer Science degree from York University.
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