Dana Chisnell’s trailblazing did not just start in government. She is a pioneer and thought leader in civic design, and after working with banks, insurance companies, and tech companies for decades to improve experiences for their customers and workers, Chisnell was tapped to lead the Department of Homeland Security’s newly created Office of Customer Experience. DHS engages with the public more on a daily basis than any other federal agency. As a response to the December 2021 Executive Order on Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government, DHS established the office to build a “culture and capacity for improving customer experience across DHS, ensuring that each of our agencies are setting aggressive targets for improving their customer experience, and making sure that we are measuring that and reporting on it appropriately,” according to DHS Chief Information Officer Eric Hysen.
Prior to her current role, Chisnell was part of the founding cohort of the United States Digital Service in the Obama White House. Her focus was on bringing human-centered design to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as the agency revamped its software development and design practices to improve experiences for immigration officers and the public. She was part of a cross-functional team at the Department of Homeland Security to design a more agile and design-forward procurement process.