Co-Founder – CityFi

Ashley Z. Hand, AIA, LEED AP BD+C is co-founder of the urban change management advisory company CityFi. She works with cities and the private sector across the country on advancing smart city strategic planning that is more human-centered and equitable.

Previously, Ashley served as the Transportation Technology Strategist for the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) – a fellowship funded by the Goldhirsh Foundation in partnership with the Mayor’s Fund of Los Angeles. As a fellow, she authored Urban Mobility in a Digital Age (urbanmobilityla.com) and is now implementing public policy, an action plan, and pilot program recommendations for transportation happiness, shared mobility, automated vehicles and other connected technologies.

Prior to LADOT, Ashley served as the first Chief Innovation Officer for the City of Kansas City, Missouri where she created the nation’s most comprehensive smart city to date through a public-private partnership around a streetcar line in Downtown. In addition, she developed the first KC Digital Roadmap, led process improvement initiatives, and worked across departments to foster innovation and collaboration.

Ashley is a registered architect and green building professional. Her design background and program management skills benefited from an array of projects with AECOM around the world and through the hard work of launching a couple of nonprofits. Ashley serves on the Advisory Council for the Carnegie Mellon University Traffic21/T-SET University Transportation Center and Open Architecture Collaborative and is an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California Price School of Public Policy.

Originally from Hartford, CT, Ashley relocated back to Los Angeles with her husband and two children two years ago this summer.