Former Chief Data Officer, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Washington, D.C.
Ren Essene, former Chief Data Officer of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, built a career in public service at the intersection of public policy, community development, and data policy and governance.
Ahead of the 2008 financial crisis, Ren highlighted deficiencies in the regulation of the mortgage market. She then led public engagement on responsive reforms as a lead architect of a generational update to the civil rights era law for data transparency. Among U.S. regulators, Ren has championed adoption of a global data standard for identifying financial services companies to improve public transparency. She also served on the executive committee of the federal Chief Data Officer Council to advance evidence-based decision making.
Prior to federal service, Ren conducted research at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, illuminating consumer behavior and capital flows in the mortgage market. The foundation for that national work is rooted in her experience as a social entrepreneur in multi-family housing development in Montana. At age 24, Ren founded Homeword, leading with a creative and integrative approach to affordable housing that embraced community design charrettes, green building practices, and smart growth principles. In that capacity, she served as Chair of the Rural Collaborative CDFI and the Advisory Council of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle.
Ren earned a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the University of Illinois.
