Who is Gavin Rozzi?

Gavin Rozzi is a civic technologist, data scientist, and digital transformation executive based in New Jersey. He currently serves as the inaugural Director of the DHCR Data Center at the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, where he leads digital transformation initiatives serving millions of residents.

Before joining government, Gavin founded OPRAmachine, New Jersey's first statewide freedom of information platform. The platform has processed over 75,000 public records requests and released 250GB of government data, serving journalists, researchers, and citizens seeking access to public information.

Gavin is also the creator of zipcodeR, an open-source R package for working with U.S. ZIP code data. Published on CRAN, the package has over 10,000 monthly downloads and is used by researchers, data scientists, and analysts nationwide for geospatial analysis and demographic research.

His academic career includes serving as the founding Data Scientist at the Rutgers Urban and Civic Informatics Lab, where he established the lab's technical infrastructure and analytical capabilities. He also served as a Research Affiliate at the New Jersey State Policy Lab, leading research on the opioid crisis through advanced spatial data analysis.

Gavin 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. He is currently pursuing the Certified Public Manager (CPM) credential, with his capstone project focusing on customer service modernization for housing programs.

Why This Work Matters

Government technology too often fails the people it's meant to serve. Residents navigate confusing portals, wait weeks for answers, and give up on services they're entitled to. Gavin believes technology should eliminate these barriers—not create them. His work focuses on building systems that treat every resident interaction as an opportunity to restore trust in public institutions.