LWOB 2025: Workshop 1 – Navigating Organizational Culture and Politics

A seasoned government leader with experience in multiple New York City agencies, Amy Bishop currently serves as the Executive Director of the Project Management Office within the New York City Police Department. Amy joined the NYPD In 2017 as a Senior Project Manager, working with Department stakeholders to drive initiatives to increase efficiency through innovation and continuous improvement. Over the next seven years, she rose through the ranks of Deputy Director, Director, and most recently to Executive Director in June 2024. In this role, Amy leads a team of both civilian and uniformed staff managing projects that advance the Department’s mission. Among her accomplishments in these roles are the development of the NYPD Strategic Plans, the Department’s first health & wellness strategy, a Department-wide civilianization assessment, and the implementation of various police reform mandates.

Amy began her career in public service in 2006 at the Department of Transportation, supporting the agency’s small purchase and contracting processes. In June 2007, she joined the Mayor’s Office of Operations under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, leading mayoral and interagency initiatives to drive change and efficiencies citywide, including the launch of an interactive KPI dashboard, the revamp of the City’s response to street conditions, and the release of the largest municipal customer satisfaction survey ever distributed. In 2014, Amy joined the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, overseeing efforts to improve customer service and program effectiveness.

Amy holds a Bachelor’s of Arts and Master’s of Public Administration from Binghamton University.

Robert Boik is the Senior Vice President of Public Safety at the Civic Committee. He’s served as a senior official in a variety of public sector roles in his career, most recently with the Chicago Police Department, the 2nd largest police department in the nation. Within CPD, Robert served as the executive director for constitutional policing and reform. In this role, Robert managed more than 500 staff and the implementation of department reforms to achieve compliance with the most extensive consent decree in the nation. In doing so, Robert led the development of the “Roadmap for Operational Compliance,” which is a strategic plan and performance management roadmap designed to achieve cultural change throughout the Chicago Police Department. In addition, Robert achieved a 790% increase in compliance with the department’s consent decree in a two-year period, taking the department from 48 paragraphs with some level of compliance when he took over the position to 427 when he left the department. At CPD Robert also served as chief of staff for three different police superintendents. In this capacity, he negotiated the department’s consent decree with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. He also built the operational infrastructure that was essential for managing the department’s reform efforts including creating teams devoted to strategy, project management, data analytics, and auditing. Robert also led the development of several key department policies on topics such as use of force, 4th amendment stops and foot pursuits. Prior to his roles at CPD, Robert’s career focused on education policy matters including serving as the chief of staff for operations for Chicago Public Schools, chief of staff to the state receiver overseeing Detroit Public Schools and as chief of staff to the State Superintendent of Education in Washington, DC. Robert holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from George Mason University where he was a Bryce Harlow Foundation Fellow and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Western Michigan University. He and his wife Nicole live in the City of Chicago and are the proud parents of two children.

Director Ryan Kao focuses on developing public safety strategy with Skydio’s law enforcement partners, including establishing Drone as First Responder (DFR) programs, throughout the United States. Prior to joining Skydio, Director Kao served as Director of Crime Strategies for the San Francisco Police Department, where he supervised the Department’s crime analysts and developed crime reduction and prevention strategies for the San Francisco Bay Area. Many of those crime strategies included pioneering law enforcement and commercial technologies, including a 400-camera stationary ALPR system, the first citywide public safety sensor system in San Francisco, and a prototype oral fluid testing device that detects fentanyl in saliva. Director Kao has also served as an Assistant District Attorney for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office where he prosecuted a wide range of cases, including robbery, burglary, aggravated assault, and homicide. He is recognized as an expert on firearms and was embedded in the Crime Gun Intelligence Center (CGIC), where he worked with a team of SFPD officers and ATF agents to remove armed and dangerous criminals from the community. He also specialized in DUI enforcement, particularly drug-impaired DUI and vehicular manslaughter, including cross-training as a Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) and receiving the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Outstanding Prosecutor Award for his work.