A strategist with global experience focused on technology and start-up operations and development, with a focus on building resilient solutions for cities. Her several key positions include her current role as the Academy Innovation Officer for San Jose City College (SJCC), and past roles as the Client Development Director for Veriown Energy and Cities Director for eMerge Americas. At SJCC Monica oversees the implementation of the Information Technology Academy with the City of San Jose, as a public-private partnership, with a focus on bridging the US technology job gap in the region. At Veriown she focused on strategic operations to develop commercial and government-scale distributed renewable energy generation solutions and technology infrastructure for cities at regional, national and global levels. While at eMerge Americas, she focused on bringing best management practices front and center to address technology disruption and innovation in cities. Monica began her career as a Fellow with the United States Smithsonian Institute and later as a Fellow for the United States Environmental Protection Agency. She earned her B.S. from Boston University and M.S. from Florida International University.