Commerce to hire first chief data officer

   The U.S. Commerce Department will hire its first ever chief data officer as part of meeting President Obama’s Year of Action. 
   “No other department can rival the reach, depth and breadth of the Department of Commerce’s data programs,” said Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker in a statement. “The Department of Commerce is working to unleash more of its data to strengthen the nation’s economic growth; make its data easier to access, understand, and use; and maximize the return of data investments for businesses, entrepreneurs, government, taxpayers, and communities.”
   The chief data officer will be responsible for developing and implementing diverse data resources at Commerce.
   In the same announcement, Commerce said its International Trade Administration has launched the “Developer Portal,” an online toolkit to put diverse sets of trade and investment data in a single place. The goal of the portal is to make it easier for businesses to “use and better tap into the 95 percent of American customers that live overseas,” the department added.
   Commerce also said the portal makes its data public to software developers, giving them access to detailed information on U.S. exports and international trade to help U.S. businesses export and expand their operations overseas.
   In addition, the department will establish a data advisory council, comprised of 15 private-sector representatives who will advise Commerce on the best use of government data.
   “The council’s primary focus will be on the accessibility and usability of Commerce data, as well as the transformation of the department’s supporting infrastructure and procedures for managing data,” Commerce said.