Elizabeth Puchek, Chief Data Officer, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, Citizenship and Immigration Services
Ms. Elizabeth Puchek, Chief Data Officer, joined USCIS in 2018 to help design the Office of the Chief Data Officer (OCDO). Beth led the development of the first-ever USCIS Data Strategy. The strategy formed the foundation for the new organizational design for the OCDO, which is responsible for managing our data assets and fostering a data-driven culture at USCIS. Since then, she has led her office to strengthen data governance by approving and implementing data standards for improved interoperability, centralizing the management of data sharing for USCIS, and establishing a data quality program to monitor data and to resolve reported data issues. Through her leadership, she has also promoted data-informed decision making among all staff with the creation of numerous enterprise-level data dashboards that transformed data consumption, the creation of a centralized website of data resources available to the whole agency, and the creation of Analyst Basic Training to provide a consistent skillset baseline for USCIS data analysts. She also leads several initiatives across USCIS to streamline case processing for employment authorization and several other benefit types.
Prior to joining USCIS, Ms. Puchek spent 8 years at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) where she held several roles, including Advisor to the Commissioner, Chief of Staff for Enterprise Services, and Director of Systems Engineering. Prior to CBP, she worked in the private sector as a consulting engineer. She led teams to design the structures for commercial buildings and investigate building failures. Ms. Puchek is a registered Structural Engineer in the state of Maryland.
