Building High-Performance Teams in the Public Sector

Speakers

• Dan Honig

  Associate Professor of Public Policy, UCL and Associate Professor, Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy

  UK

• Pedro Masson Sesconetto Souza

  Head of Data Science, Enap

  Brazil

• Erin Donahue

  Leader and Senior Manager, Leadership and Management Fundamentals Unit, Ontario Government

  Canada

• Dan Honig, an associate professor of public policy at University College London's School of Public Policy/Department of Political Science, and an associate professor (with tenure) at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy. He is a member of Georgetown's Better Government Lab; a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development; an associate of Harvard's Building State Capability Program; an SNF Agora Faculty Affiliate; a member of the Scholars Strategy Network; a senior fellow at Artha Global, and on the editorial board of the Journal of Public Policy, amongst other appointments. Dan has had the impact of his work recognised in a variety of fora, including lists of the 100 most influential academics in government and 50 most influential researchers shaping 21st century politicians. Outside the academy, Dan was a special assistant, then advisor, to successive Ministers of Finance in Liberia; ran a local nonprofit focused on helping post-conflict youth realise the power of their own ideas through agricultural entrepreneurship in East Timor; and has worked for a number of local and international NGOs. A proud Detroiter, Dan holds a BA from the University of Michigan (Go Blue!), is a "Woo" (an alum of Princeton's SPIA, despite receiving no degree; he exited to take employment with the Sirleaf administration in Liberia), and holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

• Pedro Masson Sesconetto Souza, head of Data Science at Enap. Holds a master's and bachelor's degree in Political Science from University of Brasília, focusing on political behavior. Pedro manages a team of civil servants and fellows seeking creative ways to use administrative data to improve public management.

• Erin Donahue, Manager, Reform, Partnerships and Leadership Development, Leadership and Management Fundamentals Unit, Ministry of the Solicitor General. Erin is a dedicated transformational leader within the Ontario Public Service. She started her career with the Canadian Federal Government as part of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police responding to calls threatening National Safety before joining the OPS as an Ambulance Communications Officer, taking life-saving calls from the public and providing emergency medical direction to those in crisis. From there she moved around the government, expanding her portfolio to include social services, management, provincial education on childrens mental and developmental health and trauma-informed care systems, legal and litigation, and project management. Along her career path, Erin dedicated her time and energy to creating sound leadership programmes, developing systems to enhance learning, build avenues for growth and bridging gaps to advance capacity building for staff and leaders alike. This is evident in her executive roles within the OPS Leadership Network and Tomorrow’s Ontario Public Service where she has built provincial manager mentorship programming, creating workshops on resume and interview skills and networking and personally career mentors those seeking support and guidance.