Chief Data Officer Nominated for County Executive of the Year

The Assessor's Chief Data Officer is nominated for a 2022 LocalSmart Award for the County Executive of the Year

Cook County – The Cook County Assessor’s Office is proud to announce that Chief Data Officer, Samantha H. Simpson has been nominated for a 2022 LocalSmart Award by StateScoop for the County Executive of the Year. Samantha is the Chief Data Officer at the Cook County Assessor's Office and her team recently received three national awards for building a new in-house residential valuation model using free software and open-source algorithms.

“Samantha joined my office and quickly demonstrated unwavering leadership and a passion for change management within the organization,” said Assessor Fritz Kaegi. “It is an honor and reflection of her dedication to public service that she has been nominated for this prestigious award.”
 

The LocalSmart awards are community-driven, meaning the winners will be selected based on which nominees receive the most votes. Voting will be open until Friday, October 28, 2022. Please cast your vote for Samantha here.  

Samantha joined the Assessor’s Office in 2020 and has led several large-scale data projects and initiatives within the office. Accomplishments under her leadership include producing statistical packages to monitor performance, creating an internal dashboard to access data, launching interactive assessment reports, refreshing the open data portal, and implementing the office’s first modern cloud-based solution for data storage. These contributions have helped deliver on Assessor Kaegi’s promises of technological modernization and increased transparency in the Assessor’s Office.

Samantha has more than 15 years of experience implementing data-driven solutions in the public and private sectors. Prior to her work in the Assessor’s Office, she led the development of digital products at Deloitte and spent six years on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Technology and Innovation team. A Chicago native, she earned her bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago. She serves on the Planned Parenthood Illinois Action board and is a member of the International Association of Assessing Officers.

The LocalSmart Awards program honors the visionaries who transform local government to make a difference in citizens' lives. These awards celebrate the achievements of those who work to make a lasting impact in the government IT community.    

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