Eliza Erickson is the Director of Permit, License and Certification (PLC) Innovation in the Office of Governor Josh Shapiro. As a senior member of the newly formed Office of Transformation & Opportunity, Eliza leads efforts to reform, improve and innovate permit processes across Commonwealth agencies, leveraging human centered design and other unique tools to help government employees solve problems and think about their work in new ways. Her role focuses on identifying and solving common challenges across departments’ permit ecosystems and helping them get to “Yes,” driving economic development across Pennsylvania. Prior to joining the Shapiro Administration, Eliza served as the Director of Innovation & Strategy for the City of Philadelphia, where she spent nine years building and growing a nationally recognized model of government innovation called “People, Place, Process,” and managed a flagship portfolio of programs, including an Innovation Academy, Lab and Fund. She studied history and religious studies at the University of Virginia, and subsequently received her master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan. Eliza has extensive experience in strategic planning, design thinking and civic engagement – but her true passion remains exploring Philadelphia with her husband, two kids, and rescue pit bull, Brew.