By Nicole Morell, Director of Communications
Samantha Silverberg MPP 2012 is the former Special Assistant to the President for Transportation and Infrastructure Policy and Deputy Assistant for Infrastructure Implementation in the Biden White House. She held prior roles at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), the Office of Management and Budget, and U.S. Department of 
Transportation. Read Samantha’s full bio.
Samantha joined the Taubman Center as a Visiting Fellow in fall 2025. She is focused on mentoring students interested in public service careers and exploring how state and local governments can most effectively fund, plan, permit, and deliver transformative infrastructure investments. Samantha recently sat down for a Q+A to share more about her experiences, her choice to return to Harvard Kennedy School as a Visiting Fellow, and how she hopes to work with students.
What interested you in becoming a Taubman Center Visiting Fellow?
Being a Harvard Kennedy School alum was a big part of my decision. When I came to HKS for my Master in Public Policy, I had some experience in government and was interested in learning more about how to get things done. Coming here, I met an unbelievable network of peers, friends, faculty, and staff. I love this community, and I credit it with so much of my success in government and in public service. I also worked with multiple Greater Boston Applied Field Lab teams, which are supported by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, in my time at the MBTA, so I’ve gotten to experience the power and impact of Harvard Kennedy School as both a student and practitioner.
I firmly believe in the strength and value of public service, and I recognize the importance of institutions like Harvard Kennedy School and the Taubman Center in inspiring the world's best talent to pursue careers in government. One of the things I really enjoyed about management and leadership roles over time was mentoring and engaging with the next generation. Coming back here to contribute to that mission and help inspire and inform the next generation of public servants was a big draw for me.
Through my fellowship, I also have this place to reflect on my experience in the White House and consider how our state and local peers can step up and respond to the federal government playing a less active role in many things. We still have many needs in the infrastructure space, which I know, but also in many other areas. State and local government are going to be where it's at!
What topics at the state and local level are you most interested in?
My background is deepest in transportation and infrastructure—how we build projects, how we organize around complicated governance arrangements, roads, bridges, transit, rail, water, broadband, and all the hidden parts of our cities that make things tick. I’m interested in some of the unsexy back-office functions that make government work. I have a background in budgeting, so, budgeting and finance, how budgets are built, how decisions are made, procurement, human resources, and building talent—those things are of interest to me and important to any and every possible topic.
Are there any lessons or experiences from your time as a student at Harvard Kennedy School that you often think back to or rely on?
I often think back to my negotiation class. I used a lot of the tools and techniques that Brian Mandell taught us in that negotiation class in both everyday interactions and the big tough negotiations when we were negotiating with Congress around the infrastructure bill. The Harvard Kennedy School teaches you critical thinking and problem-solving by digging into and defining the policy problem you're trying to solve, gathering evidence, weighing options, and then making a decision and following through. It’s a framework that I tried to carry through a lot of my career.
I was an applied economics student of Jeff Liebman, Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Taubman Center, who had just returned from two years in the Obama Administration at the Office of Management and Budget, where I worked after graduating from Harvard Kennedy School. I go back to quantitative analysis a lot. I learned to perform quantitative analysis, read and understand economic and statistical analyses, ask the right questions of experts, and be conversant enough to engage with real technical experts, even if I wasn't fluent. That was important. In the federal government, something I always said, “I don't need to be the expert. I just need to know who to call, how to ask the question correctly, and then be able to have a thoughtful conversation with them.” The grounding in quantitative methods and economics I gained here was beneficial for that.
What areas in state and local government outside of your area of expertise are you most intrigued by?
I'm particularly interested in exploring ways to make direct resident services friendlier, easier, and faster, and how we can leverage technology and AI to enhance the overall experience of interacting with your government on a day-to-day basis. As a parent of two small children, I also find childcare, education, and all the things that help children thrive to be particularly interesting. State and local governments play a crucial role on these fronts.
What advice would you give to current Harvard Kennedy School students interested in state and local government?
Do it! There is no more rewarding career than public service, and you just have to jump into it. You are part of an extraordinary network at the Harvard Kennedy School, comprising fellow students, alumni, faculty, staff, and fellows. The best way to break into state, local, and county government is to leverage this network. The other advice I would give is that state and local governments are hungry for talent and for people who are ready to hit the ground running, get stuff done, and have the attitude of “no job is too small.” That might mean that you might start by doing something that feels unglamorous or not specifically in your area of interest. Still, you will be contributing on day one, and that's the most important thing, especially now when state and local governments are being asked to do more with less.
