Megan Smith
Megan Smith
Megan J. Smith is the Chief Technology Officer of the United States. She was previously a vice president of Google at Google, was vice president of business development at Google for nine years, and was general manager of Google.org and the former CEO of Planet Out. She serves on the boards of MIT and Vital Voices, is a member of the USAID Advisory Committee on Voluntary Aid and co-founded the Malala Fund. On September 4, 2014, she was named as...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPublic Servant
CountryUnited States of America
faster gets natural ways
We're going to get her times down faster once she gets in shape. She still has a ways to go on that, but she has a lot of natural ability.
amazing change highest holding innovators locked people regulation talent talented whether work wrong
To me, there's so much talent in the world that's locked out for the wrong reasons, whether it's innovators at the highest end where we need to change the regulation systems, or whether it's the talented people who work here who the bureaucracy's holding back, or the amazing American people.
government
Americans really expect to interact with our government digitally.
attract economic everybody opportunity people science technology women
The more people we can attract to science and technology - men, women, everybody - the more economic opportunity we have as a nation.
people
The most important thing is, we really want to make sure the American people are able to get to any Web site they'd like to get to.
across begun deliver great power
Across our great nation, we've begun to see an acceleration of the power of data to deliver value.
code countries experience list teaching
Code is just a list of instructions. There are countries that are teaching it as part of the core curriculum. Having some experience in those early years is very important.
high mandatory school science
I was lucky that science fair was mandatory at my high school in inner-city Buffalo.
elementary
I think it's so important in preschool and in kindergarten and elementary school that we're not biasing ourselves.
add corset costume dressed fun gowns last outfit people personally skirt sort top type wearing
Last year, people dressed nicely, but not wearing any sort of costume or anything like that. This year, we've got sonnet-delivering outfits: Renaissance gowns and some Restoration wear. I'm personally wearing this outfit with a big skirt and a corset type top -- that'll add a fun element.
active believed learning mandatory money school science teachers
I went to an inner-city school in Buffalo. We had no money. But our teachers believed in hands-on active learning - there was a mandatory science fair, which was critical.
computer divide everybody expected grade places science second several teaching vietnam
There are several places in Vietnam where they're teaching computer science from second grade in class, so they don't have a gender divide because everybody is expected to program.
photos technology
For those of you who are underrepresented in technology, know that you've always been here. Look in photos and see yourself reflecting back.
federal government
I actually think that working in the federal government, or state or local, is one of the most significant things that a technical person can do.