Francesca Ioffreda

Francesca is Maryland's first Chief Innovation Officer, appointed by Governor Moore to lead the first Bloomberg Philanthropies supported innovation team at the state level. Part of the Governor's office, the team tackles priority problems and delivers solutions in innovative ways.

Throughout her career, she has led large-scale economic development, innovation, workforce efforts, and public-private partnerships. She founded Breakthrough Strategy Partners, a consulting firm focused on economic development and place-based strategies.

She was previously the Vice President for Inclusive Growth and Talent Initiatives at the Greater Washington Partnership, a CEO civic alliance focused on making the Baltimore to Richmond region more economically competitive. She launched the organization’s signature inclusive growth initiative and spearheaded its efforts to create a robust and diverse tech workforce. Notably, she led the Partnership’s $4.7 billion collective commitment to shared prosperity that was unveiled alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Raimondo, and U.S. Small Business Administrator Guzman in March 2022. She also developed the innovative Regional Blueprint for Inclusive Growth, a comprehensive 10-year economic development strategy, and an accompanying Inclusive Growth Dashboard to track progress.

At Deloitte Consulting, Francesca served as an Engagement Manager and Chief of Staff for the firm’s global Smart Cities practice. She has also served as a policy fellow for former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and a research Fulbright Fellow in Bogota, Colombia.

Francesca is a Senior Advisor to the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at Brookings Metro, a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a Washington Business Journal 40 under 40 honoree in 2022. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MPP from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a BA in Economics and International Relations from Claremont McKenna College.