MAYOR SAYEGH ANNOUNCES INAUGURAL CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER

PATERSON, NJ – Mayor André Sayegh today welcomed Edward Boze to the City of Paterson as the inaugural Chief Innovation Officer and first member of the city’s Innovation Team, whose goal is to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of Paterson City government services while also providing creative solutions to the city’s challenging problems.

The Innovation Team is a direct result of the city’s participation in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, a collaboration between Bloomberg Philanthropies, Harvard Kennedy School, and Harvard Business School. Additional support for this program is provided by Passaic County Community College (PCCC) and The Henry and Marilyn Taub Foundation, which has made a three year grant to the Passaic County Community College Foundation to support the work of the Innovation Team.

“Being part of the second class of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative expanded my worldview on the importance of innovation and data to improve the lives of city residents,” noted Mayor Sayegh. “The Chief Innovation Officer, instead of being responsible for a particular department or division, will bring a project-based approach to all of city government and will be tasked with applying an innovative lens to address the city’s most pressing issues, like public safety or improvements to city services.  And Ed Boze brings tremendous experience to the task.”

Edward Boze was a Senior Actuarial Analyst for 10 years and a software project manager and consultant at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.  At Xerox Business Services, he was a liaison to their Research and Development labs at the Palo Alto Research Center, Rochester NY, and Grenoble France.  As a Six Sigma Black Belt, Boze formed their Center of Excellence. As VP of Innovation, he created their Office of Innovation based upon the principle that everyone should be engaged in transforming the company. Boze also worked at several startups specializing in crowdsourcing innovation, providing consulting to companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield, GE, Sylvania and Johnson & Johnson.  He sold one of those startups to Ernst and Young, which today is part of their innovation consulting practice.

“My experience has taught me that the best way to get started in Paterson is to focus on the ‘human’ of ‘human-centered design,’” said Boze. “We need to build a Paterson Innovation Ecosystem made up of residents, businesses, startups, and university students. We will engage residents and businesses in town hall meetings to learn what problems they face and where government can do better.  We will ask our own employees the same question. And then we will solicit startups and university students for their solutions to the problems identified.”

“Startups will want to partner with Paterson because we are the perfect proving ground for their smart city solutions,” Boze continued. “We are the second most densely populated city in the U.S.  We have all the challenges of any city. We are just the right size and we have proximity to New York City’s venture capital.  It is a formula for success that will lead to a better life for all Patersonians.”

“Passaic County Community College is proud to partner with the City of Paterson and the Taub Foundation to strengthen the City of Paterson through the establishment of the Chief Innovation Officer position,” said President Steven Rose. “It is only through innovation that we can thrive in these changing and challenging times. This new partnership is a great example of how we all benefit when we work together.”

On behalf of the Taub Foundation, Barbara Lawrence, Executive Director, said “We are pleased to collaborate on this important initiative with Bloomberg Philanthropies, Passaic County Community College and the City of Paterson and look forward to seeing innovative approaches applied to municipal management.”

“It’s exciting to see the City of Paterson embrace the lessons they have learned through their participation in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative,” said Josh Skolnick of Bloomberg Philanthropies. “We look forward to watching the city continue to pursue new, innovative initiatives.”

The second member of the Innovation Team, the Chief Data Officer, will be announced in September 2019.