Rachel Haot (née Sterne) is an American businesswoman and entrepreneur. She was most recently Executive Director of the Transit Innovation Partnership, a public-private initiative of the Partnership for New York City and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Haot was previously the
Chief Digital Officer A chief digital officer (CDO) or a chief digital information officer (CDIO) is an individual who helps a company, a government organization or a city drive growth by converting traditional "analog" businesses to digital ones using the potential of ...
and Deputy Secretary for Technology of
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
State for two years. Prior to this role, Rachel served as Chief Digital Officer for the City of New York for three years, from January 2011 to December 2013. She also founded and ran GroundReport between 2006 and 2010.
Early life and education
Haot was born in 1983 in Manhattan to parents Paul Sterne, a former IBM managing director, and Anna Sterne, the director of patient services at a nonprofit healthcare organization. Haot largely grew up in Park Slope, Brooklyn and Dobbs Ferry,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. She graduated from
Dobbs Ferry High School
Dobbs Ferry Union Free School District is a grade K-12 education in the United States, K–12 school district based in Dobbs Ferry, New York, in the Hudson Valley, approximately 20 miles north of midtown Manhattan. The district is small as comp ...
in 2001. She graduated
magna cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...
From 2006 to 2010, Haot was one of the founders of GroundReport, a global crowdsourced news startup. In 2011 Haot taught a course on Social Media and Entrepreneurship at
Columbia Business School
Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one ...
as an adjunct professor. She has been named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and Chief Digital Officer of the Year in 2014 by the CDO Summit. She has been recognized as a "30 Under 30" leader by ''
Fortune
Fortune may refer to:
General
* Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck
* Luck
* Wealth
* Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling
* Fortune, in a fortune cookie
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
'' and '' Forbes'', and was honored at the City and State Above & Beyond Awards in 2015.
In 2011,
Katherine Oliver
Katherine Oliver is an American media and entertainment executive based in New York City. Oliver is currently a Principal at Bloomberg Associates, a philanthropic consultancy firm founded by Michael Bloomberg to provide advice and long-term solut ...
(Commissioner of The New York City
Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting
The Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting (MOFTB) is the oldest film commission in the United States.LinkNYC. Haot led the relaunch of official City of New York websit integrating city services, realtime data, cloud-based scalability and responsive design. Haot also oversaw policy and strategy for the launch of New City's top-level domain,
.nyc
.nyc is a top level domain (TLD) for New York City. It was delegated to the root zone by ICANN on March 20, 2014.
Background
New York-based company name.space, founded by Paul Garrin, began operating its own alternative root zone system in 1 ...
.
As Chief Digital Officer for New York State, Haot was responsible for digital products, programs and policy. Haot led the relaunch of State websit ny.gov in November 2014, overhauling design and architecture. The well-received update was the first major change in over 15 years, and emphasizes customer service, mobile access and location-based resources. Haot's team was also responsible for digital content production and social media engagement.
In March 2015, Haot appeared on NY1 to highlight the Governor's $500 million universal broadband program, which was later passed by the legislature. On the first anniversary of the NY.gov relaunch, New York Stat announced record breaking digital growth including quadrupled page views and doubled users, a year after the design and technology overhaul.
In January 2016, Haot announced that she was resigning from the State to join global incubator and seed fund 1776 (company) as Managing Director, applying her experience to help startups navigate government and bringing together policymakers, entrepreneurs, institutions and investors to support economic growth.
At the Transit Innovation Partnership, Haot spearheaded initiatives including the MTA live subway map built pro bono by design firm
Work & Co
Work & Co is a technology and design company founded in 2013. It is headquartered in Dumbo, Brooklyn with offices in Portland, Oregon, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Copenhagen, Belgrade, Los Angeles, and Atlanta
The company designs and develops ...
, and the Transit Tech Lab, which enabled the MTA to test technology for bus route planning, predictive bus maintenance and subway platform crowding detection. "Helvetica" filmmaker Gary Hustwit directed a short film title "The Map" about the making of the live subway map. The map has won numerous awards including a Webby Award and a Cannes Gold Lion Award.
Max Haot
Vimeo Livestream is a video live streaming platform based in New York City that allows customers to broadcast live video content using a camera and a computer through the Internet, and viewers to play the content via the web, iOS, Android, Roku, ...
, a
Belgian-American
Belgian Americans are Americans who can trace their ancestry to people from Belgium who immigrated to the United States. While the first natives of the then-Southern Netherlands arrived in America in the 17th century, the majority of Belgian immi ...
who is the founder of Livestream and founder and CEO of aerospace startup Launcher, and their children.