Kelly Ommundsen, Head of Digital Inclusion & Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum (WEF)

​​​​​​1. How do you use your role to ensure that technology and policy are truly inclusive?

At the World Economic Forum, my role sits at the intersection of government, business, and civil society helping to make sure that technology serves all people, not just ideal users with perfect connectivity, documentation, and devices.

In practice, this means helping governments and companies move beyond pilots and invest in the foundations that make inclusion possible, such as digital identity, payments, data infrastructure, and regulatory frameworks that work in everyday life.

A big part of my work is helping leaders ask better questions. Who is excluded today? What assumptions are we making about language, income, or access to technology? What breaks first when systems go to scale?

I also work to ensure policy and technology evolve together, because exclusion often begins with rules, not software.

A system can be well built and still fail millions if requirements are unrealistic, processes are fragmented, or trust has not been designed in from the start.

2. What’s a moment in your career when you saw firsthand how technology or a new policy changed a citizen’s life for the better?

Earlier in my career, I worked in humanitarian settings where registration for assistance often meant standing in line for hours, sometimes days.

Later, I saw digital identification systems dramatically reduce that burden.

With the right design, people could prove who they were, receive aid directly, and avoid having to repeat the same information to multiple agencies.

What stayed with me was not just the efficiency gain, but the dignity it restored.

Technology done well removes friction from people’s lives. It gives time back. It restores agency.

That experience fundamentally shaped how I think about government technology: not as a system upgrade, but as a public service.

3. What was the most impactful project you worked on this year, and how did you measure its success in building trust and serving the needs of the public?

One of the most meaningful initiatives I have worked on recently was the EDISON Alliance where I am proud to share that we achieved our goal of reaching over one billion people with access to core digital services, from connectivity to payments, education, and healthcare services.

Together with our partners, we measured success through connectivity gains: how many people were reached, which communities benefited, and whether essential services were available in places they had not been before.

But numbers alone were not enough. We also paid close attention to whether services were reliable, simple, and safe, and reaching those most in need.

​​​​​​​4. What was one unexpected lesson you learned this year about designing for real people? This can be about a specific project or a broader lesson about your work.

That trust is built by consistency and competence, not sophistication. Some of the most effective systems I’ve seen are technically simple, but operationally disciplined. They work every time. They do not crash. They do not ask for information twice.

We often think innovation means complexity. In public services, it usually means reliability.

​​​​​​​5. We hear a lot about AI. What's a practical example of how AI can be used to make government services more inclusive and trustworthy?

A very practical use of AI is expanding language access. Governments serve citizens who speak dozens, sometimes hundreds, of languages, yet most public services still operate in only one or two.

AI-powered translation and voice tools can open access for people who have been excluded because of language, literacy, or disability.

We are also in active discussions with leading AI developers about how to work more closely with governments to ensure smaller and less widely spoken languages are supported in public services.

This matters not just for access, but for cultural identity and language preservation.

When people can engage with government in their own language, services become easier to use and institutions feel more accessible.

​​​​​​​6. How are you preparing for the next wave of change in the public sector? What new skill, approach, or technology are you most excited to explore in the coming year?

The next wave is not about adopting new tools. It is about redesigning institutions to work in the intelligent age.

Personally, I am spending more time understanding regulatory systems and public finance.

We talk a lot about technology disruptors, but government disruption is institutional. If those systems do not evolve, technology will always underperform.

I am also excited about the emergence of agent-based AI systems that can support public servants in real time, from supporting compliance to managing cases.

Used well, this could significantly reduce administrative burden and free public servants to focus on people instead of paperwork.

​​​​​​​7. What advice do you have for public sector innovators who want to build a career focused on serving all citizens?

Build stamina. Government change is slow by design, but powerful when it works.

If you want quick wins, the private sector may suit you better. If you want to change lives at scale, public service is one of the most meaningful places to build a career.

​​​​​​​8. Who inspires you to build a more inclusive and trustworthy public sector?

I am inspired by public servants who swim upstream every day inside large systems and still find ways to move things forward. It takes courage to care inside bureaucracy. It takes persistence to change it.

I am also inspired by women who build power differently. Not through noise, but through consistency, credibility, and results.

​​​​​​​9. If you had an unlimited budget, what would your dream project be?

I would build digital foundations that governments can trust and citizens can rely on: interoperable identity systems, secure payments, and data exchange that works across agencies and borders.

Digital inclusion does not fail because of a lack of ideas. It fails because every government is forced to rebuild the same foundations from scratch.

​​​​​​​10. Outside tech, what excites you the most?

Being a mother.

Nothing teaches you about the future like watching a child learn how the world actually works. It sharpens your sense of responsibility. Every policy decision becomes personal very quickly.

I also love gardening. It has taught me more about systems thinking than any strategy session. You can’t force growth. You can only create the conditions for it.
 

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