Owen focused on innovation delivery systems and embedding improvements in the public sector by working with cities to identify emerging best practices and maximizing adoption. His career has centered on municipal government because he believes cities have an out-sized ability to impact people’s lives.
Owen joined Living Cities as Senior Associate for Public Sector Innovation in June of 2015. Prior to joining Living Cities, Owen spent over a decade in New York City government in a variety of senior positions including Press Secretary for the NYC Department of Finance and, earlier, as a Director in the Mayor’s Office during the administration of Michael R. Bloomberg. He also served as a Deputy Director for Research and Communications on the 2002 and 2003 NYC Charter Revision Commissions, where he studied governance structures and voting behavior in the nation’s 100 largest cities for a successful Voting Rights Act preclearance submission to the U.S. Department of Justice. Owen has also served as the Vice President for Policy and Communications at the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.
Owen holds an MPA from the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University and earned his undergraduate degree in Political Science from SUNY University at Albany.