The chief statistician of the United States is a position in the U.S. federal government's

Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The office's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, while it also examines agency pro ...

(OMB). The Chief Statistician is charged with providing coordination, guidance, and oversight for U.S. federal statistical agencies and activities. The Chief Statistician heads the Statistical Policy Branch of the OMB's

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA ) is a division within the Office of Management and Budget under the Executive Office of the President. OIRA oversees the implementation of government-wide policies in, and reviews draft r ...

(OIRA). The Chief Statistician is appointed by the Administrator of the OIRA. Katherine Wallman was the Chief Statistician from 1992 to January 2017. Nancy Potok held the position from January 2017 to December 2019. After Potok left office, a job posting was listed on

USAJobs USAJobs (styled USAJOBS) is the United States government's website for listing civil service job opportunities with federal agencies. Federal agencies use USAJOBS to host job openings and match qualified applicants to those jobs. USAJOBS serves a ...

to find a replacement. Dominic (Dom) Mancini was the acting replacement. The position remained vacant until April 2022, when Karin Orvis was appointed.

History

The current position of Chief Statistician was created by the

Paperwork Reduction Act The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 (Pub. L. No. 96-511, 94 Stat. 2812, codified at ) is a United States federal law enacted in 1980 designed to reduce the total amount of paperwork burden the federal government imposes on private businesses an ...

in 1980.* United States General Accounting Office (GAO)
Statistical Agencies Adherence to Guidelines and Coordination of Budgets
GAO/GGD-95-65. August 1995. pp. 44–45. An earlier U.S. chief statistician, Stuart Rice, chaired the nuclear session of the United Nations Statistical Commission in 1946.

List of chief statisticians

Source: * Stuart Rice (1939–1955) * Raymond Bowman (1955–1969) * Julius Shiskin (1969–1973) * Joseph W. Duncan (1974–1981) * ''vacant (1981–1983)'' * Dorothy Tella (1983–1988) * Herman Habermann (1988–1992) * Katherine Wallman (1992 – January 2017) * Nancy Potok (January 2017 – December 2019) * Dominic (Dom) Mancini (acting, December 2019 – April 2022) * Karin Orvis (April 2022 – present)

References

{{authority control United States Office of Management and Budget Federal Statistical System of the United States