Mayor Lurie Appoints Jessica MacLeod as San Francisco's First Chief of Strategy and Performance

SAN FRANCISCO – Mayor Daniel Lurie today announced the appointment of Jessica MacLeod as San Francisco’s first chief of strategy and performance. In this role, MacLeod will join Mayor Lurie’s administration as the fifth policy chief, working alongside the existing chiefs, city department heads, and city staff. She will lead a citywide effort to set clear goals, track progress, and deliver results San Franciscans can see and feel and improve service delivery across Mayor Lurie’s top priorities: safer streets, cleaner neighborhoods, and a stronger economy.

“My administration is focused on producing real results for the people it serves,” said Mayor Lurie. “As chief of strategy and performance, Jessica MacLeod brings years of experience in building a more accountable, data-driven city government that works better for everyone. Working across our administration’s policy verticals, she will set measurable goals and accelerate our progress to improve public safety, address our behavioral health and homelessness crisis, and drive our economic recovery.”

MacLeod will use data to help guide the administration’s decision-making, direct resources, reduce administrative burden, and give city staff the tools and support they need to succeed. A key part of the work will be building a culture of continuous improvement and innovation, so staff can identify problems at the source, address them openly, and redesign systems to deliver better outcomes.

“This role is about bringing clarity and alignment to our citywide goals, reducing complexity where possible to deliver results, and improving our ability to make evidenced-based decisions,” said MacLeod. “San Francisco is the innovation capital of the world and has the people and the tools to build a more effective government for the people that it serves. I look forward to working across the city to foster a culture of continuous collaboration and improvement to help deliver on Mayor Lurie’s commitment to all San Franciscans.”

“Jessica was a key member of the team that ensured the success of California’s Open Data Initiative while I was Undersecretary of Health and Human Services. In every role since, as Secretary of CalHHS, Special Advisor to the Governor on Innovation and Digital Services, and in the federal government, she has remained a trusted advisor to me. Jessica has a unique ability to connect people, process, and technology and break down complex issues into clear next steps,” said Michael Wilkening, Former Secretary of California Health and Human Services Agency and Special Advisor to the Governor on Innovation and Digital Services. “Her hands-on knowledge, collaborative style, and years of experience inside government make her an ideal choice for this role and will help San Francisco achieve Mayor Lurie’s ambitious goals.”

“I had the privilege of working with Jessica at Socrata and Tyler Technologies, where we supported state and local governments as they turned data into insights that improved services and empowered staff to work smarter with the tools they already had,” said Oliver Wise, Executive Director, Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University; Former Chief Data Officer, U.S. Department of Commerce. “Jessica combines deep expertise in performance improvement, customer experience, and change management, with a data-driven approach that builds lasting capacity inside government. Mayor Lurie is fortunate to have her in this role, and I am excited to see how she will bring best practices from across the country to deliver for San Franciscans.”

“Every decision made by the city and county directly impacts the health, safety, and prosperity of San Franciscans. Jessica has spent her career making government work better for the people it serves,” said Nicole Neditch, Governance and Economy Policy Director for San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR). “In a city as complex as San Francisco, her collaborative style and data-driven focus will provide the leadership needed to deliver real outcomes for the community.”

MacLeod brings more than 15 years of experience at the intersection of government, technology, and operations. She has held leadership roles in customer success at government technology companies, delivering data analytics and public dashboards that strengthen accountability, performance management systems that improve how cities set goals, and programs that have helped vulnerable families avoid eviction and stay in their homes. 

She has worked with state and local governments across the country, including Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, San Diego County, Hawaii, and San Mateo County to develop organizational performance programs and launch public dashboards. Previously, she served as director of digital services and technology for the City of San Rafael, where she led the city’s digital transformation. 

In 2020, MacLeod co-founded U.S. Digital Response, a national volunteer effort that mobilized technologists to help governments respond quickly to COVID-19, prepare for the complexities of a national election during the pandemic, and help agencies expedite critical services to those who needed it most.