After a 23-year career in public service at Michigan state agencies, Julia Dale joined Civilla as its CEO in 2025. Dale first encountered Civilla in 2021 when she was serving as the director of the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency. While there, she partnered with Civilla to design a digital tool for unemployment insurance claimants and employers to guide them through the benefits process. Now, she leads Civilla’s long-term strategy to bring similar human-centered improvements to institutions across the country.

Dale’s career in public service was shaped by her life experiences as a young person, when she received public benefits that helped her thrive. This shaped her desire to become a civil servant and assist others in difficult situations. 

Dale is a graduate of the James Madison College at Michigan State University and Wayne State University Law School.

Mary Hogan is a senior policy analyst in the Community Development and Engagement Division at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, where she focuses on labor market institutions and policies. Prior to joining the Fed in 2022, Hogan worked for the Minnesota Department of Human Services, the Minnesota Senate, and the U.S. Senate. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Puget Sound and a Master of Social Work degree from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Hue Nguyen serves as the Community Affairs Officer for the Bank and leads the work of the Community Development and Engagement Division’s policy team to inform policy discussions through research-based insights on issues affecting low- and moderate-income communities and tribal nations.

Nguyen has extensive experience facilitating community engagement and leading policy teams in both the executive and legislative branches in Minnesota state government. Nguyen has spent over 20 years working on public policies in the areas of housing, education, and taxation. Prior to coming to the Bank in 2023, she served as a director of government affairs at Target Corporation. She is also active on several community and statewide boards.

Nguyen holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and journalism from the University of Minnesota.

Ryan Nunn leads applied research in Community Development and Engagement at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. His team works to supply policymakers and practitioners with evidence that can inform decision-making and improve outcomes for low- and moderate-income communities.

Before coming to the Bank, Nunn was a fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution and policy director for the Hamilton Project. Prior to that, he was an economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Nunn’s work has focused on analysis of labor market trends and institutions. He has published research in journals including Labour Economics, the European Economic Review, and the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

Nunn received his undergraduate degree in economics from Case Western Reserve University and his Ph.D. in public policy and economics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Jennifer Phillips is the program lead for network collaboration with the Digital Benefits Network (DBN) at the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University. Phillips is designing and managing the DBN’s efforts to document and align the field of practitioners and organizations working to improve digital service delivery for public benefits programs.

Phillips previously worked for the State of Illinois leading unemployment insurance modernization initiatives. She also worked on workforce policy initiatives as staff to the Illinois Workforce Innovation Board.  Past roles have also included serving as a consultant to philanthropic and nonprofit organizations, working on workforce policy and income security issues for The Joyce Foundation and Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and serving as a National Skills Coalition board member and co-chair of the Grantmakers Income Security Taskforce (now Economic Opportunity Funders). She started her career working for The New Hope Project, an anti-poverty initiative.

Phillips holds a master’s degree in public administration from the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Andrew Stettner is a director of economy and jobs at The Century Foundation (TCF), where he leads TCF’s team working on unemployment insurance, workforce development, labor rights, disability issues, and the economy.

Stettner most recently served as a Biden administration appointee and director of unemployment insurance modernization at the U.S. Department of Labor. There he helped lead American Rescue Plan implementation including $780 million in unemployment insurance modernization grants to states. As a senior fellow at The Century Foundation and deputy director of the National Employment Law Project, Stettner helped secure expansions of unemployment insurance benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic and following the Great Recession. Stettner has also held leadership positions at Single Stop USA and Seedco. He has published numerous reports and publications and is a frequent media source. In 2024, he was named to the Fed100 most influential leaders in federal technology by GovExec.

Stettner is a graduate of Georgetown and Columbia universities. Outside of TCF, he serves as president of the board of the Autism Society of Maryland.

Beth Townsend is the executive director of Iowa Workforce Development (IWD), a state agency that helps Iowans find jobs and employers find a skilled workforce. As a result of realignment in 2023, IWD now administers all Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) programs including vocational rehabilitation, various state workforce programs, the unemployment insurance program, and disability determination services for the State of Iowa.

Townsend has been in her current position since 2015. She was reappointed in 2019 and 2023 and confirmed by the Iowa Senate each time. Townsend practiced law in Iowa until she was appointed as the director of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission in 2011. She previously served in the U.S. Air Force as a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps and retired in 2010 as a lieutenant colonel from the Air Force Reserve after 21 years of active and reserve duty.