MS MBA Tamara Srzentić

Tamara Srzentić was born in 1982 in Cetinje, where she completed primary and secondary school.

Education

She graduated from California State University and then completed two master's degrees: International Master in Business Administration (International MBA) at the École nationale des ponts et chaussées ParisTech, attending programs on three continents (Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing) and then earned a master’s degree from Temple Fox School of Business in Philadelphia.

She speaks English and French.

Career

She is an expert in public administration, digital services and innovation with over 15 years of experience in public administration reform and digital transformation management. Her qualities and results, but also the vision for development and improvement were recognized by the Governor of California, so together with his cabinet she formed the Office for Innovation in 2017, within the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, with the goal of developing services and policies for citizens and improving the relationship between the administration and the citizens of California. During the two terms of the California government administration, she played a key leadership role, setting the direction of priority programs for citizens, advancing initiatives to modernize and improve public service delivery in California, which represents the fifth largest economy in the world. She has contributed to numerous system improvements in this area, which have made the lives of California citizens better and the administration more accessible, more efficient and cheaper.

As Deputy Director and Chief Advisor to the Governor for innovation and public administration reform, of the State of California, she was in charge of leading the public service transformation programs, introducing meaningful policies, and modernizing the administration for 40 million California citizens. She headed the Office, which was responsible for fostering innovation for 13 ministries with over 30,000 employees, with an annual budget of about USD 160 billion. The opening of this Office has strengthened the impetus to increase the capacity of launching the innovation in the entire California Government. Through the introduction of innovative cooperation programs within the Office, such as the involvement of domestic entrepreneurs / innovation associates (Entrepreneurs in Residence / Innovation Fellows), she worked on establishing public-private partnerships to modernize public administration, introduce good business practices from private industry, agile culture, innovative tools and ways of working, as well as building talent that have contributed to the better work of the California Government. During 2019, she launched the Office for Digital Services, as well as numerous projects on which she engaged and built the talents for world-class technology.

Working with top officials in the Government of the United States of America, she led the Innovation and Technology Council for a better response of California to the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, together with the teams she led, she launched the covid19.ca.gov website, which was launched in just 4 days after the COVID-19 virus appeared in California, an unemployment insurance portal, a transparency initiative, equality metric and capacity building policies, with a focus on the disproportionate impact of coronavirus on the most vulnerable communities, as well as the Exposure Notification application (in partnership with Apple and Google).

She is a guest lecturer at Harvard University and often speaks at national and international conferences on public administration reform, empowerment and the position of girls, women, marginalized groups, innovation, digital transformation, and technology.

She has been president and member of numerous committees, commissions, and programs, including Alchemist, NELP, AGL, Civic Makers, New America, The Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation, Coro, TEDx, and Code for America. For the past four years, as a member of the Regional School of Public Administration (ReSPA), she has provided expert support and support for public administration reform in the Western Balkans.

She has gained a worldwide reputation due to the introduction of culture, practices and technologies of the digital age, which focus on the needs of citizens. With her leadership, the California Government has reshaped the policies and standards, stimulated the public-private partnerships, saved money, improved services, and built a sustainable system of lasting capacity, focused on well-being and the best outcome for citizens. She is the winner of a prestigious national awards and recognitions as an exemplary innovator who has dedicated her life to the civil sector, public service and positive changes in society.

She has worked closely with global leadership teams for digital services: United States Digital Services office, Presidential Innovation Fellows Tech Congress Fellows and 18F team, HHS IDEALab and Office of Personnel Management Lab, UK Digital Services, Ontario Digital Services, Peruvian Digital Services, Argentina Digital Services, Uruguay Digital Services.

She is committed to helping people and communities and believes her mission is to shape and build a culture of empathy, inclusiveness and openness in public and civil sectors. She believes that citizens should be involved in the design of processes, policies and services from the very beginning. She is firmly convinced that openness and transparency strengthen the cooperation and cohesion, and help to better understanding and harmonization of different interests.

Since December 4, 2020, she has been privileged in the Government of Montenegro to serve the citizens as the Minister of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media.