Building the quality and depth of talent: A conversation with Jane Datta

Jane Datta is NASA’s chief human capital officer and lead people champion. Datta is responsible for building the quality and depth of talent necessary for supporting the agency’s mission, improving capabilities for delivering human resources services, and positively shaping NASA’s culture to maintain high levels of employee engagement and commitment.

From 2017 to 2019, she served as the deputy assistant administrator in the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO), where she successfully managed a robust portfolio of services and complex change initiatives, including workforce planning and analytics, learning and development, talent acquisition, and policy and accountability.

One of her most notable and rewarding professional achievements has been overseeing OCHCO’s transformation from providing decentralized human capital services across 10 centers to a centralized, functionally-unified line of business.

Datta joined NASA in 2007 as the director of NASA’s Workforce Policy, Planning and Analysis Division in the Office of Human Capital Management. Here she played an important role in coordinating activities to increase efficiency across the agency, such as the agency-level integration of workforce planning with budgeting and strategic planning. Datta also oversaw agency-level human capital policy, accountability, recruiting, hiring, and student programs.

Datta is known at NASA and across the federal government for her work and often shares her human capital perspectives and expertise with leaders and aspiring human capital professionals in the private sector and other federal agencies. She also serves as a member of the Office of Personnel Management’s Chief Human Capital Officers Council.

Michael has two decades of experience with both the private and public sectors encompassing strategic planning, business process redesign, strategic communications and marketing, performance management, change management, executive and team coaching, and risk-financing.

Michael leads the IBM Center for The Business of Government's leadership research. As the Center’s Leadership Fellow, his work is at the nexus of the Center’s mission – connecting research to practice. My work at that the Center complements frontline experience of actual government executives with practical insights from thought leaders who produce Center reports – merging real-world experience with practical scholarship. The purpose is not to offer definitive solutions to the many management challenges facing executives, but to provide a resource from which to draw practical, actionable recommendations on how best to confront such issues. Michael also hosts and produces the IBM Center’s The Business of Government Hour. He has interviewed and profiled hundreds of senior government executives from all levels of government as well as recognized thought leaders focusing on a range of public management issues and trends. Over the last four years, Michael has expanded both the show’s format and reach – now broadcasting informational and educational conversations with dedicated public servants on two radio stations five times a week and anywhere at anytime over the web and at iTunes. Michael is also the managing editor of The Business of Government magazine, with a targeted audience of close to 14,000 government and non-government professionals. Additionally, he manages the Center’s bi-annual proposal review process that awards stipends to independent, third party researchers tackling a wide range of public management issues.

Prior to joining the Center, Michael worked as a senior managing consultant with IBM GBS (Global Business Services) and as a principle consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Washington Consulting Practice (WCP). He led projects in the private and federal civilian sectors including the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, FEMA, and the Veterans Health Administration. Before entering consulting, he worked in the private sector as product development manager at a New York City based risk financing firm.

Since 2003, Mr. Keegan has been a reviewer for Association of Government Accountant’s Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting (CEAR)© program, keeping abreast of the most recent developments in authoritative standards affecting federal accounting, financial reporting and performance measurement. He is also a member of APPAM, the NYU Alumni Association, and the Data Center & Cloud Talent, USA. He holds masters in public administration and management from New York University and was the founder of its DC alumni group as well as previous treasurer of the NYU graduate school’s alumni board.