Priorities Podcast — Episode Summary

Episode Title: Meet CODE PA's new executive director
Podcast: Priorities Podcast by StateScoop
Host: Keely Quindlen
Guest: Sarah Hall, Executive Director, Commonwealth Office of Digital Experience (CODE PA), Pennsylvania
Date: April 1, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode features an in-depth conversation between StateScoop reporter Keely Quindlen and Sarah Hall, recently appointed Executive Director of CODE PA (Commonwealth Office of Digital Experience) in Pennsylvania. The discussion covers Sarah’s career trajectory, from her foundational work on digital transformation in Philadelphia to her current leadership at the state level. Hall discusses the challenges and opportunities in scaling digital services, fostering cross-agency collaboration, driving accessibility, and setting a vision for sustainable, resident-centric digital government.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Foundations in Philadelphia Digital Services

[02:18–05:31]

• Sarah started in 2017 as a product manager for Phila.gov, the City of Philadelphia’s website.
• Worked with a small, multidisciplinary team to migrate department content and build scalable components.
• Emphasized the significance of working with content experts—content strategists and designers—in shaping a holistic approach to digital services.
• The proactive creation of scalable frameworks (e.g., the "finder framework" used during the COVID-19 pandemic for tools like food finders) enabled the city to rapidly deploy new capabilities.
• “It started as this kind of parallel workstream... It was my first exposure to working with folks in the content space and it was really exciting for me... how that's informed my digital services approach moving forward.” — Sarah Hall [02:27]

2. Transition to Statewide Leadership & PA.gov Overhaul

[05:31–07:29]

• Joined the PA.gov overhaul as the effort to relaunch the commonwealth’s website was rapidly advancing—migrating 64 agencies in eight months.
• Contrasted the five-year pace in Philadelphia with the rapid statewide rollout.
• Built momentum and agency buy-in through frequent launches and early successes.
• “At the city we did this work over five years, and here at the state we did it in eight months... it was such a fast-paced, wild, but great experience.” — Sarah Hall [06:44]

3. Shift to Executive Leadership at CODE PA

[07:29–08:34]

• Hall reflects on stepping into an executive role with the benefit of a strong pre-existing foundation and broad administrative support.
• Maintains a focus on “no wrong door” for residents—making it easy for people to access government services regardless of where they start.
• “It's the same focus at a different scale and that was really exciting for me.” — Sarah Hall [08:05]

4. Evolving Priorities — Platforms, Partnerships, & Sustainability

[08:34–09:59]

• Scaling impact through enterprise platforms (permitting, identity, payments, grants) designed to serve multiple agencies, rather than agency-specific one-offs.
• Emphasizing nimbleness to balance urgent response and long-term sustainability.
• Investing in shared infrastructure and mature product practices.
• "We're trying to stay nimble so we can respond to urgent priorities while investing in long term sustainability." — Sarah Hall [09:20]

5. Breaking Down Silos & Building Agency Trust

[09:59–11:46]

• CODE PA operates within a structure where agencies are organized into delivery centers, each with a CIO, all reporting to the state CIO.
• Hall stresses the importance of developing relationships at both delivery center and agency levels.
• Employs user research and human-centered design to understand each agency’s unique current state before proposing changes.
• “We have a great user experience research team... making sure that we understand current state of where we are before we start saying how we should change.” — Sarah Hall [11:08]

6. Communicating Success and Impact to Leadership

[11:46–13:15]

• Focuses on measuring improvements to both internal business processes and the resident/user experience.
• Utilizes analytics to track metrics like processing time, complaint frequency, and sets clear “what does good look like” benchmarks.
• “We can't be perfect, obviously... But how can we either simplify or make it easier to understand or even just explain what those processes are?” — Sarah Hall [12:55]

7. Accessible Government: Beyond Compliance

[13:15–14:56]

• Accessibility is foundational at CODE PA; the team is moving from a compliance mindset to one of enablement.
• Works proactively with agencies and IT to build accessibility into products from the start.
• Relies on shared standards, ongoing training, and actionable tools for scaling accessible design.
• Takes a data-driven, iterative approach, prioritizing highest-impact services and transparent risk assessment.
• “Accessibility is really a core part of how we approach digital services... shifting from a compliance mindset to an enablement model.” — Sarah Hall [13:46]

8. Looking Ahead: Exciting Projects & Vision

[14:56–16:26]

• Hall’s priorities for 2026 are solidifying CODE PA’s foundation and expanding enterprise platform adoption.
• Most excited about:
  • Permitting: Creating a single, scalable system to replace fragmented agency solutions, aiming for faster, simpler, and more predictable processes for businesses and residents.
  • Identity: Launching a unified single login for all Commonwealth services—improving both security and user experience.
• “Approving [permitting] has a broad impact so we’ll be making those processes faster, clearer, and more predictable... On the identity side, we're working towards single login across Commonwealth Services.” — Sarah Hall [15:55]

Notable Quotes

• “It started as this kind of parallel workstream... It was my first exposure to working with folks in the content space and it was really exciting for me... how that's informed my digital services approach moving forward.” — Sarah Hall [02:27]
• “At the city we did this work over five years, and here at the state we did it in eight months... it was such a fast-paced, wild, but great experience.” — Sarah Hall [06:44]
• “We're trying to stay nimble so we can respond to urgent priorities while investing in long term sustainability.” — Sarah Hall [09:20]
• “We have a great user experience research team... making sure that we understand current state of where we are before we start saying how we should change.” — Sarah Hall [11:08]
• “Accessibility is really a core part of how we approach digital services... shifting from a compliance mindset to an enablement model.” — Sarah Hall [13:46]
• “Approving [permitting] has a broad impact so we’ll be making those processes faster, clearer, and more predictable... On the identity side, we're working towards single login across Commonwealth Services.” — Sarah Hall [15:55]

Key Timestamps

• [02:18–05:31] — Sarah’s Philadelphia digital services story, COVID-19 response, team building
• [05:31–07:29] — PA.gov overhaul: rapid scaling and agency migration
• [07:29–08:34] — Transition to CODE PA executive leadership
• [08:34–09:59] — Current priorities: scaling through enterprise platforms, partnerships, sustainability
• [09:59–11:46] — Overcoming silos: trust, agency relationships, human-centered design
• [11:46–13:15] — Metrics, communicating impact to leadership, defining "what good looks like"
• [13:15–14:56] — Accessibility: enablement over compliance, tools, metrics, and practice
• [14:56–16:26] — 2026 vision: permitting and identity platforms, impact focus

Episode Tone & Closing

The conversation maintains an optimistic, collaborative, and practical tone, reflecting both Sarah Hall’s excitement about the work and her pragmatic approach to digital transformation at scale. The episode ends with Hall sharing her enthusiasm for forthcoming projects and anchoring her leadership on delivering accessible, impactful, and sustainable digital government for Pennsylvania residents.