Grace Simrall was named Chief of Civic Innovation and Technology for Louisville Metro Government in August 2016. She is responsible for advising the Mayor and leading the city’s Smart City initiative, transforming the resident experience of digital government, and facilitating co-creation of breakthrough civic innovations. Under her leadership, the city has received national recognition for their innovation work including 2017 Center for Digital Government - Most Innovative City, 2018 Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge Champion City, and 2018 Smart Cities Council Readiness Challenge awardee.
Most recently, the city received What Works Cities Gold certification status in 2019, only one of four cities to do so. Launched by Bloomberg Philanthropies in April 2015, What Works Cities is one of the largest-ever philanthropic efforts to enhance cities’ use of data and evidence. The What Works Cities Certification program is the national standard of excellence for data-driven, well-managed local governments. Louisville’s Gold certification status is largely driven by its 100% achievement in the categories under the purview of Civic Innovation: Data Governance, Open Data, and Stakeholder Engagement.
Prior to this role, Simrall served as Executive Director of Innovation at Care Innovations, a joint venture between Intel and GE Healthcare, where she was responsible for the company’s innovation and analytics initiatives. In 2010, she founded iGlass Analytics, a startup focused on delivering data management and analytics solutions in the healthcare technology space.
Simrall earned a bachelor’s degree in the geophysical sciences from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Louisville’s Speed School of Engineering.