TheBridge profile: Tyrone Grandison

Name: Tyrone Grandison 

Current city: Seattle, WA

Current job: Executive Director at The Data-Driven Institute

Past job: Chief Information Officer at Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation - University of Washington; Deputy Chief Data Officer at US Department of Commerce

Q. Favorite spot for a coffee meeting? Cherry Street Coffee House

Q. Describe one way how a skill you learned in a previous job helped you in your new job. Technology Delivery is 30% about understanding the problem and building a solution. The majority of the effort is consensus building, stakeholder engagement and community development. The more people bought into the importance of the problem and the solution, the higher the chances that the technology will be around in the long term.

Q. Job advice in three words? Always Be Delivering

Q. How are you (or your company, org, nonprofit) currently bridging the gap between politics and tech? The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) provides the world's most comprehensive data set of the risk factors, injuries and diseases that shorten the quality and length of people's lives across the globe. Being the trusted source that serves up this data is a responsibility that the Institute takes seriously. We work with our partners and collaborators to ensure that policymakers have this data at the tips of their hands and that they use it to improve the lives of the people in their constituencies.

Q. How many hours of sleep do you get? Around 5 hours. 

Q. Most underrated virtue in an employee? Empathy.

Q. Favorite app? Health Atlas 

Q. Last time you were completely unplugged? 2004

Q. If you had to live in another city, which would it be? Waikato, New Zealand.

Q. How often do you work from home? Not nearly enough. 

Q. Favorite restaurant? Anything with spice. 

Q. How do you unwind after work? Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Nightclub Two step