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We have officially announced the 2022 GovTech Groundbreakers, who are pushing the boundaries of what's possible in the world of government technology. Join us as we introduce you to five of these trailblazing innovators.

Natalie Madeira Cofield (Small Business Administration - USA) She is an award-winning entrepreneur, philanthropist, political appointee, and economic activist. She has helped channel over $200 million in funding to innovation ecosystems and entrepreneurs across the United States. Natalie has been featured on several prominent publications, including Entrepreneur Magazine, Forbes, Inc, Time, CNN, Business Insider, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, and Fast Company.

Mohammad J. Sear (Ernst & Young - United Arab Emirates) He is a renowned expert in the fields of digital government, citizen-centricity, and customer experience, and advises senior leaders in the public sector. After a successful career of over 12 years in the UK government, he moved to the private sector to help public sector organizations in the UK, Middle East, Australasia, and South Asia tackle strategic challenges and undergo digital transformation. He has helped government organizations become more focused on their citizens and achieve operational excellence by leveraging both traditional and digital capabilities, as well as the principles of design thinking. This has enabled governments to improve their customer experience by digitizing their services.

Sandra Sinde Cantorna (IDOM - Spain) She is an expert in GovTech and Open Innovation, and a specialist and pioneer in the field of public procurement innovation in Latin America. She previously served as the Director of Public Procurement Innovation and Open Innovation at IDOM. With over 20 years of experience, she has worked with the governments of Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador in different areas such as health, transportation, information and communication technologies, and energy. She brings her extensive expertise in innovation, cultural change, and public procurement innovation to the public sector. She has led workshops and talks on public procurement and innovation in the public sector to over 4000 people, and created the first public procurement innovation blog at IDOM, a company dedicated to professional consulting, engineering, and architecture services.

Alejandro Pareja (Inter-American Development Bank - Paraguay) He is a Senior Specialist in Modernization of the State at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). With a background in telecommunications engineering and project management, he has extensive experience in implementing business & software projects, designing business processes, and working in the field of digital government in Argentina, Mexico, Spain, Chile, and Uruguay. His work focuses on generating knowledge and developing projects related to the digitization of public administration and services, administrative transformation, simplification of civil and identity registries, and measuring the quality and satisfaction of transactional public services.

Cecilia Celeste Danesi (IA LAB - Argentina) She is a force to be reckoned with in the fields of law, academia, and research. As a lawyer and professor at the Universities of Buenos Aires, Perugia, and Salamanca in Argentina and Italy, she has made a name for herself by expertly combining AI, law, and gender equality to protect vulnerable groups and promote women's rights in the realm of technology. In addition to her work as a highly respected academic and director of the magazine “Artificial Intelligence, Emerging Technologies, and Law: Interdisciplinary Reflections”, Cecilia also delivers virtual courses on AI and law and teaches a postgraduate course on AI and law at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. She holds the prestigious position of Deputy Director of the Health Law Institute of the San Isidro Bar Association in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. 

Keep an eye out for more updates about the GovTech Groundbreakers, and let us know who you think should be a 2023 GovTech Groundbreaker in the comments.