Dual passions for public service and technology have brought Jackie Lender AB ’16, JD ’22, MBA’22 from Harvard to Boston City Hall and back again.
After graduating from Harvard College magna cum laude, the Massachusetts native spent a year working in Mayor Marty Walsh’s office as the inaugural Harvard Presidential City of Boston Fellow and then continued on as the city’s startup manager. Determined to learn more about how cities can use technology and work with startups to improve quality of life for residents, Lender decided to return to the University to pursue a joint JD/MBA degree at Harvard Law School (HLS) and Harvard Business School, beginning in fall 2018.
Lender pursued her interest in a service-oriented career throughout her time at the College, where she concentrated in government with a secondary in Slavic languages and literature. The crystallizing moment came during her senior year when, to supplement her honors thesis, she took an HLS course that explored how city officials around the world work with technology and community partners to solve civic problems: “The class made me realize that there was a need for more people in public service who were attuned to the ways in which technology could augment government.”
Less than a year later, Lender had landed the role as the inaugural Harvard Presidential City of Boston Fellow where she had a varied portfolio of technology, innovation, and transportation projects. Among other initiatives, Lender helped outline a digital process for permitting new developments, collaborated with the MBTA and internal stakeholders in an attempt to relaunch overnight public transportation service, and spearheaded Courtyard Festival, the city’s “innovation festival” highlighting local start-up founders and their vision for serving the future of Boston. At the same time, she launched a startup showcase to highlight local startups serving the Boston community.
Building on her work as a fellow, Lender took a full-time job as the startup manager in the city’s Office of Economic Development. In this role, she worked with partners to create the Startup Job Fair, which connected local companies with local talent, and developed new programs to provide pro-bono legal and accounting advice to nascent entrepreneurs. “To me, this work was incredibly powerful because it promoted economic growth, mobility, and job placement,” Lender says. “Boston has a thriving startup and innovation ecosystem. It is, in my opinion, the ideal city for entrepreneurship.”
Looking ahead, Lender plans to use her upcoming JD/MBA degree to explore the ways that technology can improve city services, augment the public realm, and create beneficial public-private partnerships. “I want to be a leader in government, advocating for cities to work with startups and be innovative in their approach to creating new programs and initiatives.”
Lender believes young people have an important role to play in helping local governments address the needs of their tech and startup communities and support innovation, and she hopes to inspire other recent college graduates to consider a career in the public sector.
“I would not be where I am today were it not for the mentors, professors, and colleagues who championed my work and believed in me. I want to provide the same guidance to students who are interested in the interdisciplinary sector of government and technology,” she says. “There’s a need for people to be in public service, and it’s an incredibly rewarding line of work.”
Alumni are working in public service across the globe—read more stories here.