New director named to oversee Baltimore’s CitiStat office

After discussions on revamping CitiStat, Mayor Catherine Pugh announced new moves surrounding the effort to use data in city government.
Pugh named a new director on Wednesday, and there’s a new title involved.
Kendra Parlock was appointed director of sustainable solutions for city government. In the role, she will oversee the CitStat office. That may be getting a new name, as well. Parlock said she is considering the name CitiSmart.
“Data-driven decisions in government really has its roots here, in Baltimore, with CitiStat,” she said, referring to the program’s introduction under former Mayor Martin O’Malley. “So I’ll be building on those strengths, and also identifying areas for improvement in using those to drive performance management for better outcomes.”
At a CityLab Baltimore event last week, Pugh talked about wanting to do more with the program, including expanding it to more types of data. At the end of the week, the Baltimore Sun reported that director Sameer Sidh stepped down to take a job as chief of staff at Towson University.

Pugh said Parlock, who previously worked in the private sector, is charged with restoring and enhancing CitiStat.