Corinna Zarek

Cori Zarek is a lawyer, technologist, and civic entrepreneur with expertise in tech policy, civic tech, digital rights, open government, freedom of information, and press freedom. Cori recently joined Apolitical, the world’s largest network of public servants, to expand its models of learning and communities of practice to North America. From 2022-2024, Cori served as Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Digital Service, the 200+ person technology team based at the White House to partner with agencies to implement policies and programs through design and technology. And previously, Cori served as Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer where one of her roles was to lead U.S. participation in the Open Government Partnership, the 75-country consortium working to improve transparency, public participation, and accountability.  

Outside of government, Cori has been on the faculty at Georgetown University and previously served as Executive Director of Georgetown’s Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation, a 50-person applied research center focused on using data and technology to improve public systems. Cori previously was the Freedom of Information Director and legal fellow with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, held a fellowship researching open source software in government with the Mozilla Foundation, and advised Code for America. In recent years, Cori co-founded civic tech organizations including U.S. Digital Response in 2020 which pairs pro bono technologists with governments for emergency support, Technologists for the Public Good in 2021 which is the first professional association for the field of public interest technology, and the Judicial Innovation Fellowship in 2022, housed at the Georgetown University Law Center, which partners technologists with state court administrations to improve access to justice with data and design.

Cori is on the advisory council for the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law and the advisory board for the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where she received her BA. She has also consulted with more than a dozen governments around the world on right to information, open data, and digital government efforts.

(Updated May 2025)