Two things: The Internet and New York City. The emergence and evolution of the Internet has played an enormous role in my life, and the potential it provides to connect people, improve government and make the world more efficient is staggering. I also feel enormously lucky that I was born in New York City and have lived here throughout my life. It is one of the most diverse, creative and culturally rich places on earth and the greatest classroom imaginable.

(And of course my greatest influences have been my parents, grandparents and my teachers and coaches along the way.)

We are living in an age of unlimited potential thanks to the explosion of data and powerful data technologies.  Mayor Bloomberg has long been a proponent of the power of data. He often quotes the adage, “In God we trust, everyone else bring data.” I feel incredibly fortunate to work in an administration that values data in government and uses it to drive efficiency.

Today we have more than 900 data sets on the City of New York’s OpenData Platform, and through the NYC Big Apps competitions and a range of hackathons, we’ve seen the creation of hundreds of apps that do everything from determine whether you can park your car in a specific spot to learn the history of any tree planted by the city.

On a more serious note, the city was able to reach twenty times more New Yorkers during Hurricane Irene by providing access to geographic data for hurricane evacuation zones, which the New York Times, WNYC and Google turned into their own interactive maps. And the Mayor's Financial Crime Task Force has reduced firefighter injuries by 15% by analyzing data patterns linked to increased fire risk.

The use of data to improve service delivery has been a cornerstone of Mayor Bloomberg’s administration. On the service delivery side, the city’s customer service system, 311, processes about 20 million service requests a year, and the number is constantly increasing. The data behind those phone calls, text messages and online forms helps to drive service delivery and spot trends – in many ways 311 was “crowdsourcing” before the term existed. The data behind 311 is out there for anyone to consume and analyze, and it illustrates the incredible scale of service delivery in a city as complex as New York.

Humility and a willingness to learn.

At the end of the day, our work is about improving the lives of New Yorkers, plain and simple. Connectivity, education, open government, social media engagement and supporting New York’s thriving tech sector are our means of achieving that. But our goal is always to serve the people of New York City.

The City of New York has more than 250 social media channels.