Ren Essene
CDO, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was born as a 21st-century agency to help consumers take better control over their economic lives. And effective data use is central to achieving the agency’s mission, according to Ren Essene.
Over the last decade, Essene has facilitated the management, use, sharing and protection of CFPB’s data assets through a centralized, enterprisewide data management program. Through the newly established Office of the Chief Data Officer, Essene launched a program to deliver greater knowledge management capabilities to increase the use and sharing of bureau data.
Essene has also been active in the Federal CDO Council and is working to provide greater public access to agency data by leveraging the Data.gov platform and reducing its FOIA backlog. She has fostered new data-sharing agreements to identify opportunities to leverage the Global Legal Entity Identifier and align to industry data standards in its collections.
Essene and her team plan to work with new leadership to refresh CFPB’s data strategy to strengthen its data foundation and improve its ability to execute its mission. As CFPB modernizes its data environment, it will transform how it collects, shares, protects and manages enterprisewide data to ensure the data it needs can achieve its mission to protect and serve consumers. And Essene will continue to engage the public to find ways to provide greater public access to CFPB information and data.