Sean Thornton

 

Professional 

American Hospital Association                                                                                      Population Health Manager, 5/18—Present

Harvard Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation                           Program Advisor, Civic Analytics Network, 2/16—5/18
Staff Writer and Research Fellow, 2/13—2/16

Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) Chicago                                               Consultant, 12/14—12/15

Pritzker Traubert Foundation                                                                                         Consultant, 5/12—9/12

Community and Volunteer 

Taproot Foundation
Volunteer Consultant – Communications and Marketing, 11/17—12/19

Chicago Community Trust, “On the Table” Initiative
Idea Maker and Community Ambassador, 8/14—10/18

Compass to Care Childhood Cancer Foundation
Communications and Development Volunteer, 10/12—2/13                                                    

Other Experience

Field Foundation of Illinois
Program Fellow, 6/11—9/11

Office of the Mayor, City of Chicago
Mayoral Fellow, 6/10—9/10

Inspiration Corporation                                                                                                            Case Management Intern, 9/09—6/10

Education                                                                                        

University of Chicago
Master of Public Policy (MPP), 2012
Master of Arts (MA), Social Service Administration, 2012

DePaul University
Bachelor of Arts (BA), Psychology and Political Science Magna Cum Laude, 2009

Publications

Articles 

• A Letter to the Open Data Community: One Year Later
• What Makes a Good Data Story?
• A Guide to Chicago’s Array of Things Initiative 
• Predictive Analytics Guides West Nile Virus Control Efforts in Chicago
• The Clear Water Project
• On Chicago’s Goose Island, City Digital Accelerates Smart City Innovation 
• User-Friendliness Defines Chicago’s New Data Portal
• An Open Letter to the Open Data Community
• Why Civic Analytics?
• How a Smart City Tackles Rainfall
• Beneath the Smart City
• Open-Source Tools Meet the Municipal Budget Office
• Municipal Analytics, the Startup Way
• Taking Predictive Analytics to the Beach
• OpenGrid for Smart Cities
• Including Residents in Civic Tech Development
• From Activities to Outcomes: The Promise of Pay for Success
• How Open Data Can Encourage more Transit-Oriented Development
• Chicago Launches OpenGrid to Democratize Open Data
• From Algorithm to Action
• Plenario: Changing How we Use Open Data
• The Internet of Things in Chicago: Collaborative Action for Smarter Cities
• Delivering Faster Results with Food Inspection Forecasting
• Open Data as an Accountability Tool: Chicago’s Problem Landlord List
• Data-Driven Strategy and Innovation for a Healthier Chicago
• The Chicago School of Data: Building a Framework for Chicago’s Data Ecosystem
• Funding Civic Technology
• Big Ideas for Cities: Key Lessons from the National League of Cities Summit
• Chicago: A Look Back at a Landmark Year
• The Chicago Public Library Redefines its Role in the Digital Age
• Regulatory Reform in Chicago: A Discussion on Innovation
• The Fine Balance: A Dialogue on Regulatory Reform
• Beyond 311: Transforming Municipal Customer Service in Chicago
• Chicago’s SmartData Platform: Pioneering Open Source Municipal Analytics
• The Smart Chicago Collaborative: A New Model for Civic Innovation in Cities
• The Next Phase of Transparency: How Chicago’s Data Dictionary is Enhancing Open Government
• The Chicago Tech Plan: Building a Model for Cities and Technology
• Open Data in Chicago: A Comprehensive History
• Chicago Welcomes new CIO Brenna Berman
• Taking on Social Problems with Analytics: Chicago’s Data Science for the Social Good
• Using Predictive Analytics to Combat Rodents in Chicago
• Brett Goldstein Departs as Chicago’s CIO and CDO
• The Chicago Safer Communities Hackathon: Using Mobile Devices to Improve Public Safety
• Chicago’s WindyGrid: Taking Situational Awareness to a New Level
• Chicago Releases New Datasets for a More Sustainable City
• Chicago’s SmartData Vision: Building a Predictive Analytics Platform for Municipal Government
• A Profile of Technology and Innovation in Chicago

Books  

• The Responsive City, Stephen Goldsmith and Susan Crawford, Harvard Press, 2014
  • Acknowledged contributor, Chapters 2,3 and 4
• The Civic Media Reader, Eric Gordon and Paul Mihailidis, ed., MIT Press, 2015
  • Author, “Case Study – Philanthropy as a Driver for Civic Technology,” Chapter 18

Journals

• Understanding the Citizen Data Scientist.  Public Sector Digest, November 2017 issue, Public Sector Digest Inc.
• Lessons from Chicago’s New OpenGrid Initiative.  Public Sector Digest, Summer 2016 issue, Public Sector Digest Inc.
• Cultural Districts and the Potential for Urban Development. Advocates’ Forum, 2012 Issue, University of Chicago Press.