About
I don’t bring the answer to the room.
I try to create the conditions in which the people there find their own, or find better questions. What I hope stays with them afterwards is the sense that something became a little clearer while we were talking, even if they couldn’t say exactly how.
Three schools
Three things shaped how I do that.
Design taught me to notice: a room, a form, a metro step, a system that could be a little better than it is.
Government taught me to work at the scale of a country. As Secretary of State in the Prime Minister’s Chancellery (2012–2017), I coordinated public policy, led the Delivery Unit for two years, in a project carried out in partnership with the World Bank and Tony Blair Associates, and represented Romania internationally on open government.
Technology taught me to build the tools instead of waiting for someone else to. Through H.appyCities, the association I founded, we design platforms and formats that help citizens and local authorities think and decide together.
All three turned out to be the same instinct, aimed at different materials. Moderating is where it needs the least translation: no policy to draft, no platform to build, just the right question at the right moment.
How a conversation gets made
For me, creativity isn’t inspiration. It’s a state of searching and playing, followed by rigor. I start by exploring: what is the most challenging question? Somewhere in the conversation, something connects. Then comes the quieter part: checking, structuring, making sure what surfaced lands somewhere useful.
I create spaces to think, and conversations that seek different perspectives.
Full bio
I lead the program, which brings people from government, business, technology and civil society together to think about how technology changes the way we live and govern. Most of my moderation happens here: Socratic seminars and closed-door roundtables under the Chatham House Rule.
I coordinated public policy and represented Romania internationally on open government. For two years I led the Delivery Unit, in a project carried out in partnership with the World Bank and Tony Blair Associates, helping ministries turn priorities into results. That is where I learned how decisions actually get made, and how often they stall for lack of the right conversation.
I work with Impactum on projects with governments in the countries where it operates, from mediating investments to communication for public initiatives. My part is strategic initiatives: helping an institution define the problem precisely before it chooses the intervention.
We design tools and formats that let citizens and local authorities decide together: DES Hub; the Citizens’ Jury in Râmnicu Vâlcea, with the municipality and Fundația Comunitară Vâlcea, assisted by the OECD; and now CoDE, with partner municipalities. A citizens’ jury is moderation at civic scale, with ordinary people given the time and the questions to reach a considered view.
Conversations in the garden behind my house with actors, writers and musicians, for students from the schools nearby. It’s moderation in its simplest form: good guests, curious kids, no stage.
I cook for friends and like to surprise my guests. A good dinner and a good panel ask for the same thing: the right people around the table, and room for the conversation to breathe.
- Design AcademyUniversity degree
- Oxford Internet InstituteInternet Leadership Academy
- Open Data InstituteOpen Data Leaders Network
- New Europe 100 · 2016Named among Central and Eastern Europe’s 100 innovators