Postal Regulatory Commission Takes Steps Toward Implementing Data Initiatives: Hires Chief Data Officer; Introduces Service Performance Data Dashboard
The Postal Regulatory Commission (Commission) welcomes Russell Rappel-Schmid as the agency’s first chief data officer to lead its open data and data governance efforts. Mr. Rappel-Schmid joined the agency effective February 14, 2022. Rappel-Schmid will oversee the Commission’s data management and compliance with the OPEN Government Data Act. Most recently, Rappel-Schmid served as the State of Alaska's first chief data officer. In that role, he worked with the State Office of Information Technology and other state departments on the data governance plan for their move to the cloud. He also launched Alaska’s first non-geospatial open data portal, and created data tools to help users better visualize and understand the state’s data. Rappel-Schmid previously served at the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS OIG). He was a member of the USPS OIG’s data analytics team where he worked to identify, access, and effectively use Postal Service data. Rappel-Schmid also worked as an audit manager, overseeing audits of Postal Service costs, pricing, and international mail. Rappel-Schmid started his career using data to drive internal audits while on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps.