Jin made the announcement on Twitter last week, expressing enthusiasm about her appointment join White House Chief Data Scientist D. J. Patil, Director of the White House Police Data Initiative Lynn Overmann and Senior Advisor for Health IT Policy Claudia Williams. She said her last day in Boston is June 24, and she expects to start officially on June 27. Jin's new title has yet to be released.
1) Cat's out of the bag. It has been my greatest pleasure serving @CityOfBoston & co-leading the Analytics Team. Friday 6/24 is my last day. — Kelly Jin (@postkxj) June 17, 2016
2) On Monday 6/27 I will be joining @whitehouseostp and working on spreading the analytics love with @DJ44 @LynnOvermann @claudiawilliams — Kelly Jin (@postkxj) June 17, 2016
Jin’s ties to Washington include service as part the White House Domestic Policy Council and as an advisor to the administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration.
As part of the data analytics leadership in Boston, Jin has contributed to a number of data and technology projects that, according to her LinkedIn profile, include IT work in public safety and housing. The city is well known for its application of data science and strong collaboration with civic hacker groups like the Code for America Brigade called Code for Boston. In January, Boston unveiled its first city performance platform called CityScore that crunches batches of city data to calculate how efficient the city is performing.
Though she did not specify how long her duties will last — for instance, whether they will end once President Obama leaves office or continue after his term — if Jin's contract runs like those at federal digital service group 18F and the U.S. Digital Service, her service will last for two years, with the possibility of a two-year extension.
