Ditas Katague Selected as Chair of NAC

I am proud to announce that effective August 1, 2015 my daughter Ditas Katague has been selected as Chair of the National Advisory Committee (NAC) on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations for the Bureau of Census. The following is the E-mail from John H Thompson, Director of the Federal Bureau of Census Agency. I am a very proud Papa once again. Please join me in congratulating Ditas on her new role and achievement in her professional career.

Subject: New NAC Chair Announcement

Dear NAC Members:

I am pleased to announce the selection of Ditas Katague, Chief of Staff, Office of Commissioner Catherine J.K. Sandoval, California Public Utilities Commissioner (CPUC), as the Chair of the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations, effective August 1, 2015. Ditas is stepping into her new role with a wealth of knowledge and experience, including outreach and communications. Ditas has been a member of NAC since its inception in 2012.

Ditas has more than 20 years of experience at federal, state and local government agencies as well as in private and non-profit sectors. Prior to coming to the CPUC, Ditas was Chief Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Corporations. She also served in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research as Director of Census 2010 and is an expert in civic engagement and public participation. She was also Assistant Secretary for Transportation at the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. In 1999-2000, Ditas served as Chief Deputy Director for the Governor's "California, You Count!" statewide multi-lingual outreach campaign to ensure a complete count during Census 2000.

In the private sector, she was First Vice President, State and Local Government Affairs for Countrywide Financial where she managed and maintained legislative coverage and activities in the top tier western states (20 states), analyzed state and local laws and regulations that impact the corporation’s priority business objectives. Ditas was also a manager for Deloitte Consulting’s Public Sector practice in New Jersey and Sacramento where she provided project management, business process improvement, reorganization and transition management, change leadership, and communications and public relations consulting services.

In the non-profit sector, Ditas was the Program Director for the non-profit California Telemedicine & eHealth Center.

Ditas has a B.A. in Social Sciences and Practice of Art (double major) from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Masters in Public Administration (Intergovernmental Management and Organization Development) from the University of Southern California School of Policy, Planning and Development.

Please join me in congratulating Ditas in her new role as the Chair of National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations.

John H Thompson, Director, Bureau of Census, Washington, D.C.


Facts about the NAC:

The National Advisory Committee (NAC) considers topics such as hard to reach populations, race and ethnicity, language, aging populations, American Indian and Alaska Native tribal considerations, new immigrant populations, populations affected by natural disasters, highly mobile and migrant populations, complex households, rural populations, and population segments with limited access to technology. The Committee also advises on data privacy and confidentiality, among other issues.

In the mid-1970s, NAC began advising the Census Bureau. During the 2010 Census, five separate committees advised the bureau on decennial issues: the African American, American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN), Asian, Hispanic, and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI) Advisory Committees.

In 2012, the Secretary of Commerce re-chartered the NAC as the Census Bureau National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations. The committee, known as NAC, consists of up to 32 members appointed by the Director of the Census Bureau. NAC is an important channel of communication between the Census Bureau and race, ethnic, and other communities, focusing “on the identification of new strategies for improved census operations, survey and data collection methods, including identifying cost-efficient ways to increase census participation” and reduce the undercount.