Lorena Molina-Irizarry

Senior Advisor for Puerto Rico Strategy and Implementation

Office of the Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Census Bureau

Lmolina-irizarry@doc.gov / lorena.molina-irizarry@census.gov 

Lorena Molina-Irizarry serves as Senior Advisor for Puerto Rico Strategy and Implementation to the Department of Commerce and liaison to the White House Puerto Rico Initiative, integrating the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts around economic growth for Puerto Rico. She also serves as Senior Advisor for Puerto Rico at the U.S. Census Bureau.

Additionally, Mrs. Molina-Irizarry supports the American Rescue Plan (ARP) implementation team at the White House in implementing ARP equities and investments in Puerto Rico, like the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit.

Previously, she served as Director of Operations at the Census Open Innovation Labs within the U.S. Census Bureau, bringing together technologists, government, and communities through open-tech collaboration, human-centered design, and innovation models, tapping into the power of open data and tech for good; implementing open-innovation initiatives like the Open Data for Good Grand Challenge and scaling The Opportunity Project. In this capacity, she also managed strategic partnerships with Big Tech, media, entertainment, and civic-tech organizations to protect the integrity of the 2020 Census, creating data-sharing initiatives through public-private partnerships and scaling innovation programs to address misinformation/disinformation about the decennial census and increasing data-driven decision making at all levels, across sectors and industries. This work led to the creation of the first-ever Trust & Safety team in government.

Previously, she served as the Deputy Chief of the National Partnerships Program, creating and implementing enterprise-wide infrastructure for engaging and collaborating with national, regional, and local partners in industry, tech, academia, and the civil sector to increase open data use and awareness— promoting the importance of the 2020 Census as the cornerstone of our democracy, and other Census Bureau economic, demographic, geospatial programs.

Before the decennial census, she also served as the Technology Communications Liaison for the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of the U.S. Census Bureau, leading technology, cybersecurity, innovation communications, and public relations for the agency.

She has been instrumental in architecting and implementing innovation strategies across government and local communities, strategic workforce planning initiatives, and building civic digital talent pipelines within and outside government.

Bio Source.