Lilian Coral

Lilian Coral is a Senior Fellow at New America, where she drives research and thought leadership for RethinkAI. She mobilizes a national network of technical and local experts, including the initiative’s Civic AI Advisory Trust, to advance AI-enabled solutions to critical public challenges and shape policy that reflects community needs.

Coral previously served as Vice President, Technology & Democracy Programs and Head of the Open Technology Institute at New America, where she led both the Open Technology Institute and the Technology and Democracy Cluster, New America’s core cluster encompassing programs and initiatives focused on technology and other innovations as tools through which people advance democracy, sustain and strengthen human rights, reduce inequality, improve lives, and sustain the planet.

Prior to joining New America, Coral was Knight Foundation’s director of national strategy and technology innovation, where she developed the foundation’s citizen-centered Smart Cities strategy and managed a national portfolio of investments totaling more than $55 million across more than 120 grantees, centered around data accessibility and trust, urban mobility, and technology in public spaces.

Coral joined Knight after serving as chief data officer for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, leading the mayor’s directive on open data beyond the lens of transparency and toward his vision of a data-driven Los Angeles. She managed the growth of Los Angeles’ open data program to 1,100 public datasets, the expansion of the use of data science and analytics, and the development of more than 15 user-centered digital services. Of note was her development of the GeoHub, a first-of-its-kind data management solution for integrating geospatial information across the City of Los Angeles’ 41 departments.

Coral has spent nearly 20 years working on a wide range of policy and technology issues and has worked with labor unions, NGOs, foundations, and local, state, and federal government to transform the way government uses data and technology to serve its citizens.

Coral has a bachelor’s degree in international studies from the University of California, Irvine and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a native of Colombia, a place from where much of her inspiration for innovation and social justice emerged.