Merici Vinton is a senior fellow at American Progress. Vinton is a government innovation leader who drives digital transformation in large, complex organizations and leads high-stakes nationwide launches. Most recently, she served as senior adviser for digital delivery to former Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Daniel Werfel and deputy for Direct File, launching the IRS’ free tax filing service that served more than 140,000 taxpayers with 94 percent user satisfaction.
Since leaving government in March 2025, Vinton serves as a senior adviser to the Federation of American Scientists and as an executive fellow of applied technology policy at the University of California Berkeley, where she explores the future of technology and digital transformation in government.
Previously, Vinton led Child Tax Credit implementation for the U.S. Digital Service at the White House. She was one of the first employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where she built the agency’s digital team and established a groundbreaking strategy based on open source, open data, and transparency—setting the standard for modern web services across the federal government.
Vinton is also the co-founder and former CEO of Ada’s List, a women’s leadership community she successfully exited in 2022. She has extensive consulting experience, including senior positions at IDEO and Accenture/Fjord.
Vinton splits her time between Barcelona, Spain; Nebraska; and Washington, D.C.