As one of our co-founders, Victor Garcia’s Coforma connection runs deep. Before launching the company (then &Partners) in 2017, Victor and Coforma CEO Eduardo Ortiz worked together at the US Digital Service (USDS), modernizing the US immigration system and FEMA’s approach to requesting flood-disaster funds.
Victor left Coforma in 2020 to work for a startup using machine learning and artificial intelligence to bolster our nation’s defense and security efforts. He now returns as our first Chief Innovation Officer, where his background in product development and emerging tech will help shape our company's next phase of growth.
“Bringing on a Chief Innovation Officer right now is a strategic investment in Coforma’s future,” says Eduardo. “Victor is joining us to translate market signals into strategy, and experimentation into future capabilities to help shape how we adapt, grow, and innovate to achieve our ultimate goal of improving lives. I’m excited for the opportunity to work together again and deliver impact at scale under Coforma’s brand.”
Before rejoining Coforma, Victor served as VP of Engineering at a mission-driven SaaS company focused on helping individuals access public benefits more efficiently and equitably. Prior to that, he held engineering leadership roles at Rebellion Defense, The Walt Disney Company (National Geographic), and the USDS at the White House. Across these experiences, he’s focused on building resilient teams, driving technical strategy, and shipping impactful products.
We recently caught up with Victor to chat about his new role and what “innovation” means in the context of Coforma.
Q: Tell us about your professional journey and what led you into civic tech.
I started in software product development when I was 15. In high school, I became really interested in building products and software and went on to earn a computer systems engineering degree at Boston University. I began my career doing some consulting, but spent most of my time at Yahoo, building the company’s media and entertainment properties.
I got started in civic tech right after that when I joined the US Digital Service (USDS). I saw an announcement that said the White House was going to start up a “tech SWAT team,” taking technologists from private industry, and inviting them to come into government to help modernize its services. I thought it would be really interesting to apply my expertise in building scalable technology at a place like Yahoo to modernize government systems.
Q: Tell us about your original involvement in cofounding Coforma. Did you and Eduardo work together at USDS?
Yes, and I think part of the allure of starting what was then &Partners was taking what we had learned from our work there.
We worked with a lot of companies during our time at USDS—some contracting companies were really good, and some were not great. The not-so-great ones cost the federal government a lot of money, and after 18 or 24 months, you wouldn’t really get working software that actually helped people. So part of the idea for founding Coforma was that, given our experience, we could start something and have a bigger impact. Continuing the work from USDS and maybe even expanding on it was part of the idea.
Q: After spending time in the private sector, why did you decide now was the right time to return to Coforma?
What I’ve enjoyed most in my professional career is building products. I think there’s an opportunity now to take some of the learnings from Coforma’s delivery teams—who have seen so much across their work with various federal agencies—and figure out how to bring some of that together into a product idea or even multiple product ideas.
I don’t know exactly what those will be yet, and part of the fun is jumping in, having conversations, and figuring it out. I’ve always loved taking something from zero to one—building an MVP or prototype, getting it out the door, and seeing what happens. Sometimes you have to kill an idea, and that’s just part of the process. But sometimes, it turns into a truly useful product.
The chance to do that multiple times with a portfolio of possibilities sounds like an exciting opportunity, especially in this space. Right now, we’re seeing the federal government scale back some of its internal innovation efforts, and I think there’s an opportunity for Coforma to step in and carry forward some of that work.
Q: The role of “Chief Innovation Officer” often looks different at various companies. What do you think it will look like for Coforma?
It’s interesting because part of standing up this role is really defining what innovation means at Coforma. Innovation can be such a fluffy word sometimes. As a technologist, I like to see tangible results, so I’m often a little skeptical of “innovation” efforts that don’t lead to real outcomes.
Part of the fun will be shaping what innovation should look like here. To me, innovation in the civic tech space often means taking, or even building, new technology and applying it in ways that are common in the private sector but rare in government.
So I think this role will be about finding ways to harness new technologies in novel ways to solve problems in spaces that are still largely manual. Especially with the rise of emerging AI-powered workflow tools, there may be opportunities to clear backlogs faster and improve efficiency.
Overall, the role will continue that throughline of modernization, of bringing private sector expertise and approaches into the public sector to make meaningful improvements to government services.
Q: Gazing through your product development lens, what do you see on the horizon for Coforma?
When you’re focused purely on delivery, the customer often dictates the roadmap. They put requirements into a contract and essentially outline exactly what they want. The skill set to deliver on that is a little different from the skill set needed when nobody is telling you what to build, and you have to be opinionated about the product yourself.
Part of strengthening our product development muscle will be learning how to start from scratch, in some cases. We’ll need to envision and define the product ourselves, in-house. That’s a different approach from responding to an RFP, where you can still innovate but within the parameters someone else sets.
This shift gives us the opportunity to apply everything we’ve learned about the problems agencies face and their unique landscapes. We’ve been in this space long enough to understand how these challenges play out across multiple agencies and how they impact real people. Looking ahead, we can use that perspective to develop products ourselves that support Veterans, shape healthcare systems, and improve public interest technology.
Q: Which songs, books, or people really inspire you right now?
It’s been a lot of things recently. There’s this one song by Hurray for the Riff Raff called Pa’lante.
Pa’lante is a Spanish word that means “forward,” as in “keep moving forward.” Given everything happening in the world, it’s an inspiring song that reminds me to keep looking ahead. I’ve been really into that one lately.
I’m also a new dad, so most of what I read these days is baby-related. Our daughter Alessandra just turned seven months old. She’s our first child, so that’s been a whole new journey. Honestly, she’s pretty inspiring all on her own.