Gavin Rozzi, MS, CPM
Government Technology Executive | Director, Data Center Administration, NJ Department of Community Affairs
Professional Summary
Government technology executive who builds state capacity through technical execution. At NJ DCA, hired and trained a civil-service engineering team instead of procuring another vendor system, and delivered digital services used statewide: contact center modernization, statewide housing compliance tools, and the data infrastructure behind the state's veteran homelessness initiative.
Created zipcodeR, an R package with 53+ peer-reviewed citations (as of March 2026), including Nature Communications, Cancer Discovery, MIS Quarterly, the Journal of the American Heart Association and JAMIA Open. Earlier, founded OPRAmachine (75,000+ public records requests processed, 2017 to 2024). Combines hands-on technical work with policy implementation experience, turning legislative mandates into production systems that serve vulnerable populations.
2025 Governor's Team of Excellence Award
Team award from the NJ Civil Service Commission for A4-S50 affordable housing implementation
Experience
Director, Data Center Administration
New Jersey Department of Community Affairs- Built in-house civic technology and web development team from scratch, delivering production applications including the NJ Eviction Guide, Bringing Veterans Home website, and NJHOMES planning tools
- Bringing Veterans Home: Governor Sherrill's FY2027 budget allocates $11 million for the initiative; S-1838, which would codify the initiative in statute, was engrossed by the full Senate on June 30, 2026 and, as of that date, was pending in the Assembly
- Designed the by-name-list data infrastructure the state used to measure progress to Functional Zero veteran homelessness, reached statewide in July 2026 and externally validated by Community Solutions
- Led Operation Right Answer, the customer service modernization program that consolidated thirteen program-by-program phone queues into one contact center with a service scorecard, in partnership with the NJ Innovation Authority
- Developed NJHOMES Choice Tool enabling all 564 municipalities to implement A4-S50 affordable housing requirements, extended in 2026 with NJHOMES Atlas, a statewide map of roughly 42,000 municipally owned vacant parcels built so CDBG recipients can meet the federal 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act publication requirement
- Member of the A4-S50 implementation team recognized with the Governor's Team of Excellence Award (2025)
- Accepted four 2026 NAHRO national awards on behalf of DCA for NJHOMES, the NJ Eviction Guide and the HERF AI model, all built in-house by DCA staff
Principal Consultant and Founder
39 North Labs, LLC- Founded consulting practice serving government and nonprofit clients on data strategy, operational improvement, and digital service delivery
- Designed data pipelines, dashboards, and records management systems for clients transitioning from manual to data-driven operations
Lecturer, Master of Public Informatics
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School- Designed and taught the graduate Data Visualization course for civic technologists and government data professionals
Founding Data Scientist
Rutgers Urban and Civic Informatics Lab- Established the technical infrastructure and analytical practice for a university research center
- Developed spatial analysis tools and data pipelines for policy research
Research Affiliate
Rutgers Bloustein School (New Jersey State Policy Lab)- Research affiliate on a spatial analysis of New Jersey opioid overdose data
- Applied GIS and statistical modeling to inform state-level policy interventions
Graduate Research Assistant
William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy, Stockton University- Co-authored "The Underground Construction Economy in New Jersey" and secured the data-sharing agreement with the NJ Department of Labor behind it
- Conducted econometric analysis quantifying the state's underground labor market for policymakers and labor leaders
Founder
OPRAmachine- Founded New Jersey's first statewide freedom of information platform and ran it from 2017 to 2024
- Processed 75,000+ public records requests and released 250GB of government data
- Served journalists, researchers, advocates, and residents across 565 government agencies; stepped down in 2024
Education
Master of Science in Data Science & Strategic Analytics
2020Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
2018Certified Public Manager (CPM)
August 2026Nationally recognized public management credential. Capstone project: Operation Right Answer, which consolidated thirteen siloed phone queues in the State's largest housing division into one purpose-built contact center with a service scorecard for measuring the resident experience.
Key Projects
zipcodeR
Open-source R package for ZIP code analysis. 124,000+ total CRAN downloads and 53+ peer-reviewed citations (as of March 2026), including Nature Communications, Cancer Discovery, MIS Quarterly, the Journal of the American Heart Association and JAMIA Open.
Bringing Veterans Home
Statewide data infrastructure supporting NJ's veteran homelessness initiative, which reached Functional Zero statewide in July 2026; the state used this data to measure its progress.
NJ Eviction Guide
Built by the in-house web development team he leads: an interactive bilingual self-help tool connecting vulnerable residents to housing assistance and legal resources.
Municipal Lead Reporting Portal
Statewide compliance platform capturing residential lead-paint inspection data for all 564 NJ municipalities.
NJ Civil Service Navigator
Civic technology platform making 6,740+ NJ civil service job specifications searchable with career path visualization, resume matching, and job posting generation.
NJHOMES Choice Tool
Interactive planning platform enabling all 564 municipalities to implement A4-S50 affordable housing requirements with scenario simulation and compliance tracking.
OPRAmachine
New Jersey's first statewide OPRA request platform, which he ran from 2017 to 2024. 75,000+ requests processed, 250GB data released, 565 agencies covered.
Skills
Technical
- R Programming & Statistics
- Python
- React / TypeScript / JavaScript
- Full-Stack Development
- AI / Machine Learning
- GIS / Spatial Analysis (QGIS)
- Cloud (Azure, AWS, Databricks)
- PostgreSQL / SQL
- Linux Server Administration
- Git & Version Control
Domain Expertise
- Digital Transformation
- Civic Technology
- Data Science & Analytics
- Government Operations
- Housing Policy
- Veterans Services
- Public Records Law
- Open Data
Leadership
- Team Building
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Cross-functional Collaboration
- Strategic Planning
- Change Management
Awards & Recognition
NAHRO National Award of Excellence (accepted on behalf of NJ DCA)
National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. NJHOMESNAHRO National Award of Merit (accepted on behalf of NJ DCA)
National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. NJHOMESNAHRO National Award of Merit (accepted on behalf of NJ DCA)
National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. The NJ Eviction Guide, built with DCA's Office of Eviction PreventionNAHRO National Award of Merit (accepted on behalf of NJ DCA)
National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. The Homelessness Economic Risk Framework (HERF) AI modelGovernor's Team of Excellence Award (team award)
New Jersey Civil Service Commission. A4-S50 affordable housing implementation teamFirst Place, NJ DEP GIS Mapmaking Contest
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. 3D category, 34th annual contest; Honorable Mention, Best Cartographic DesignExcellence in Local News Award
New Jersey Press FoundationSpeaking & Presentations
Using Generative AI to Predict Housing Instability and Model Solutions
NAHRO 2026 National Conference & Exhibition - Denver, COThe Real Cost of NIMBY: The Economic Development Case for Affordable Housing
30th Annual Governor's Conference on Housing and Economic Development - Atlantic City, NJTurning Vacant Land into Opportunity: NJHOMES Atlas Webinar
NJ DCA Mayors and Legislators Resource SeriesAI in Higher Education Panel
Stockton University - The Power of Public Colleges & Universities ConferenceRe-envisioning Housing Data Panel
Monarch Housing Associates Annual ConferenceFrom Prompt to Public Service: AI Use Cases in Government
CoPPER (Community of Practice for Public Evaluation and Research)Introduction to GitHub for Analytics
Rutgers Bloustein School - Intelligent Informatics Webinar SeriesProfessional Affiliations
Board of Directors (Former)
NJ Foundation for Open Government 2023 - 2026New Jersey's leading nonprofit advancing government transparency. Volunteer board position; oversaw staff, finances, and policy priorities including public records access and open data advocacy.
State Team Member, Eviction Data Response Network
New America, Eviction Data Response Network (1 of 11 states selected) 2026 - 2028Member
IBEW Local 30 2026 - PresentMember
American Society for Public Administration, NJ Chapter 2026 - PresentElected Member
Burlington County Democratic Committee - Florence Township (Ward 3, District 2) 2026 - PresentNotary Public
State of New Jersey 2015 - PresentSelected Publications
zipcodeR: Advancing the analysis of spatial data at the ZIP code level in R
Software Impacts (2021); 53+ peer-reviewed citations (as of March 2026)The first statewide, open access dataset tracking public records requests in New Jersey
Data in Brief (2020)njtr1: An R package for researching road safety using open crash data
Software Impacts (2021)Research cited in Nature Communications, Cancer Discovery, MIS Quarterly, the Journal of the American Heart Association and JAMIA Open. View full publications list →
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Gavin Rozzi's current role?
Gavin Rozzi is Director, Data Center Administration at the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs and the founding Director of the DHCR Data Center, where he built an in-house civic technology team delivering applications like the NJ Eviction Guide, Bringing Veterans Home, and NJHOMES planning tools.
What credentials does Gavin Rozzi hold?
Gavin Rozzi holds an M.S. in Data Science & Strategic Analytics (4.0 GPA) and a B.A. in Political Science (3.9 GPA) from Stockton University, along with the Certified Public Manager (CPM) credential, awarded by the New Jersey Civil Service Commission and delivered by the Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration in August 2026. His CPM capstone, Operation Right Answer, consolidated thirteen siloed phone queues in the State's largest housing division into one purpose-built contact center with a service scorecard for measuring the resident experience.
Can I download Gavin Rozzi's resume?
Yes. This page includes a save/print button that generates a print-ready PDF-style version of Gavin Rozzi's resume directly from the browser.
What is Gavin Rozzi's professional background?
Gavin Rozzi has led government technology, digital transformation, and service-delivery modernization at NJ DCA, where the in-house team he built delivered the NJ Eviction Guide, Bringing Veterans Home, and the NJHOMES Choice Tool. He also founded the consulting practice 39 North Labs, taught data visualization as a lecturer at Rutgers' Bloustein School, and founded OPRAmachine, New Jersey's first statewide public records request platform.