Demetria is a tireless advocate for entrepreneurs, communities, businesses, and policies that positively impact the revitalization of American cities. Armed with actionable data and localized research, Demetria combines smart public-private partnerships, no-nonsense advocacy, and creative financial capitalization to build sustainable, equitable residential and commercial opportunities. For more than six years at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C., Demetria served as a policy analyst and White House Political Appointee in the Administration of President Barack Obama. Aligned with the Obama Administration’s focus on inclusive innovation, Demetria built a new program designed to connect STEM-oriented minorityowned companies with the immense science and technology resources located in the federal government. As lead innovation policy analyst at the Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), Demetria spearheaded a cross-agency collaboration to support the growth of minority-owned business with a revenue of $1M or more. She supported several White House initiatives focused on the Commerce Department’s business development efforts, and shaped policy creation and the formulation of key partnerships with a range of national stakeholders. In 2015, Demetria was appointed Senior Advisor for Policy and Inclusive Innovation at MBDA. She conceived, designed, and scaled up a revolutionary program that connected STEM-oriented businesses and young entrepreneurs to a vital, historic aspect of America’s business development stream: high-quality scientific expertise and quantitative testing and research that aids the commercialization of technological discoveries born in the nation’s 300+ federal laboratories. Known as Tech Transfer or “T2,” the process of connecting private companies to federally-developed science and technologies is a time-tested feature of the nation’s economic growth during the past century, resulting in major commercial products such as GPS and mobile phones. Now, as Senior Director for Social Innovation of the Jamii Group, Demetria Gallagher leads the company’s focus on cross-sector business development, innovation and social impact. Demetria manages all aspects of research development, strategic alliances and social impact metrics for a range of national clients. Demetria is also Founder and President of UrbanCycle, a social impact real estate incubator she created to combat urban development barriers in her home town of Chicago.