Building the path forward together

Alicia Menendez

Alicia Menendez anchors MSNBC’s American Voices with Alicia Menendez Saturday and Sunday nights from 6 to 8 p.m. ET. She is also the author of “The Likeability Trap” and host of the “Latina to Latina” podcast. Menendez joined MSNBC in October 2019. Prior to joining the network, Menendez served as a correspondent on “Amanpour & Company” on PBS and formerly hosted a nightly news and pop culture show on Fusion called “Alicia Menendez Tonight.” Her reporting and interviews have appeared on ABC News, Bustle, FusionTV, PBS and Vice News.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Menendez has been called “Ms. Millennial” by The Washington Post, “journalism’s new gladiator” by Elle, and a “content queen” by Marie Claire.

Menendez is on Twitter at @AliciaMenendez.

Clare Martorana

Clare Martorana is an industry leader in deploying innovative technology and human-centered design to create products, services, and experiences that improve people’s lives.

In March 2021, Clare was appointed by President Biden as the Federal Chief Information Officer. She previously served as Chief Information Officer of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and a member of the U.S. Digital Service team at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, launching the agency’s enterprise-wide digital modernization effort to give Veterans the 21st century digital experience they deserve. Prior to joining government, Clare was a President at Everyday Health and Senior Vice President and General Manager and editor-at-large at WebMD.

Throughout her career, Clare has worked to improve and simplify the digital experiences people have when interacting with businesses – and knows the same is possible when our citizens interact with our government. As a creative leader and big thinker, she is leading government technologists and policy experts in meeting federal mandates while working collaboratively to deliver secure modern tools and services to our citizens. She looks forward to partnering with key stakeholders to maximize investments and deliver high-quality digital services to the American people.

Mina Hsiang

Mina Hsiang was named the third Administrator of the United States Digital Service (USDS) in August 2021, becoming the first woman and first Asian‑American to lead the organization since it started in 2014. She brings deep technical experience to the position. She has worked across the private and public sectors to help solve complex problems that require important actions both from the government and the private sector.

In the private sector, she was VP of Technology Products and VP of Policy at Devoted Health, an integrated insurance and services startup for seniors that she helped start and grow into a 700+ person company. Additionally, she previously led new product development for the analytics division of $60B healthcare tech & services company, Optum. During her time as an investor and advisor on company boards, she lent her insight and expertise to help build innovative and high performing organizations, such as Fractyl Health, Biom, and Paydiant.

She has also held various roles within federal government, many of which focused on digital service delivery across healthcare. Most recently, she served as a Senior Advisor at USDS in 2021, where she oversaw the delivery of the Vaccines.gov integrated consumer experience. Immediately prior, she served on the Biden-Harris Transition, working on the COVID and HHS teams.

During the Obama Administration, she was a key member of the HealthCare.gov rescue. She went on to serve at USDS as the lead for healthcare projects across the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and eventually started and led the Digital Service at the Department of Health and Human Services as its founding Executive Director. She also served as Senior Advisor to the U.S. Chief Technology Officer during the Obama Administration, in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), where she was the technology lead for the Precision Medicine initiative. She also served on the DoD’s Defense Innovation Board subcommittee on software development.

Her first ever government role was when she was studying biomedical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; she served as an intern at the Federal Drug Administration.

She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. She and her husband, Orin Hoffman, have one child.

Robin Carnahan

Robin Carnahan currently serves as the Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). As Administrator, she is working to empower GSA career professionals and build on the agency’s efforts to deliver the best value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services to the government and American people.

Prior to joining GSA, Carnahan served in executive and leadership roles in business, academia and government, including as the Secretary of State of Missouri (2005-2013), and founded and led the State and Local Government Practice at 18F, a tech consultancy, inside GSA (2016–2020). She’s a nationally recognized government technology leader and in 2017 was named one of the federal government’s “Top Women in Tech.” Most recently, Carnahan was a Fellow at Georgetown University’s Beeck Center where she co-founded the State Software Collaborative.

As Secretary of State, Carnahan also served as the state’s Chief Election Official and State Securities Regulator and was responsible for providing in-person and online services to hundreds of thousands of customers. An essential part of her job was leading the office’s technology modernization efforts across 7 operating divisions. She frequently speaks, writes and testifies about government innovation through smarter use of technology.

While previously at GSA, Carnahan helped federal, state and local government agencies improve customer facing digital services and cut costs. She focused on training and empowering non-technical executives on ways to reduce risk and deliver better results for the public by more effectively budgeting, procuring, implementing, and overseeing digital modernization projects.

Carnahan holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from William Jewell College and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Rob Bonta

On April 23, 2021, Rob Bonta was sworn in as the 34th Attorney General of the State of California, the first person of Filipino descent and the second Asian-American to occupy the position.

Attorney General Bonta’s passion for justice and fairness was instilled in him by his parents, who served on the frontlines of some of America’s most important social justice movements. Instilling in him the lessons they learned from the United Farm Workers and the civil rights movement, Attorney General Bonta’s parents lit a fire inside him to fight against injustice — to stand up for those who are taken advantage of or harmed. It’s why he decided to become a lawyer — to help right historic wrongs and fight for people who have been harmed. He worked his way through college and graduated with honors from Yale University and attended Yale Law School.

In the State Assembly, Attorney General Bonta enacted nation-leading reforms to inject more justice and fairness into government and institutions. As the People’s Attorney, he sees seeking accountability from those who abuse their power and harm others as one of the most important functions of the job. In elected office, he has taken on powerful interests and advanced systemic change — pursuing corporate accountability, standing up for workers, punishing big polluters, and fighting racial injustice. He has been a national leader in the fight to transform the criminal justice system, banning private prisons and detention facilities in California, as well as pushing to eliminate cash bail in the state. He has led statewide fights for racial, economic, and environmental justice and worked to further the rights of immigrant families, renters, and working Californians.

Prior to serving in the Assembly, Attorney General Bonta worked as a Deputy City Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco, where he represented the City and County and its employees, and fought to protect Californians from exploitation and racial profiling.

Born in Quezon City, Philippines, Attorney General Bonta immigrated to California with his family as an infant. He is the son of a proud native Filipino mother and a father who taught him the value of public service to his community. He is married to Mia Bonta, and they are the proud parents of three children Reina, Iliana, and Andres, as well as their dog Legolas.