A Public Health Path Less Traveled

Niles Friedman has embraced uncertainty and embarked on an unconventional career path that has enabled him to influence health care outcomes, service delivery in government, and the GovTech ecosystem across Africa, Europe, and the United States.

The future of public health careers, funding sources, research, and many aspects of public health will evolve. Friedman believes it is vital to pave new pathways and opportunities for Rollins students and alumni so they can be influential voices for our public health future.

Upon graduating from Rollins in 1998, Friedman entered the world of health care consulting, where he utilized his skills in health policy and management to directly enhance the financial performance, operational efficiency, and strategic plans of hospitals and health systems across the United States.

After building a foundation of private sector work from Deloitte and The Advisory Board Company, he joined a health care startup in South Africa. This startup pioneered GovTech (the intersection of government and technology) practices and approaches across the national, provincial, and district levels of government across Africa and utilized data, technology, and patient-centric practices to improve outcomes for hospitals, health clinics, and communities.

“Through these formative experiences, I prioritized an intention to find a broader purpose with my work,” says Friedman. “The global GovTech and civic technology communities have been a force in realizing that purpose for decades.”

While working across Africa and Europe, he also led partnerships with pharmaceutical companies that were creating sustainable markets for distributing antiretrovirals, vaccines, and other products in collaboration with ministries of health, nonprofits, philanthropic organizations, and startups.

“My exposure to how the public sector can deliver and the scale at which they operates changed how I thought about my career and saw the possibilities for how a collective view of strategic problem-solving can be the foundation for how to work together,” he reflects.

Friedman brought this thinking with him when he returned to the United States, where he served as a senior advisor to the Obama administration. He worked with the U.S. Small Business Administration, leading a board of 50 small business executives on key priority areas, including improving access to market capital, creating local entrepreneurial ecosystems, and addressing regulatory barriers to business growth.

Again and again, his work tackled a central question: At the end of the day, how can government better support people’s needs? This could be a resident, citizen, customer, or community.

“When the primary focus is on people, creating the solutions has a clear purpose 
and intention,” he says.

With a sustained interest in state and local government, he collaborated with the state of California and Los Angeles County to development innovation capacity in government through the launch of innovation offices that emphasized human-centered design approaches, technology, and data-driven insights. These efforts helped to instill a culture of innovation across departments, agencies, and teams.

This all led him to the work he does now as a founding executive advisor of the strategic advisory firm Star Insights. In his current role, he collaborates with social impact organizations and takes an inclusive and human-centered approach to strategy, thereby elevating the challenges faced by residents and communities.

As a leader, contributor, nonprofit board chair, and speaker, he has become a respected voice in the global conversation about the future of GovTech and civic technology. He champions a return to the fundamentals: centering public trust, ethical governance, open collaboration, and community-driven design in technology projects. He argues for a cultural shift within social impact organizations by inclusively creating a strategic vision for our future.

All these principles are central to the field of public health. Hoping to give back to the global Rollins community, he joined the Alumni Association Board in 2021 and was elected board president in 2024. The team of 15 board members brainstormed hundreds of ideas to support Friedman’s vision—delivering service and value to the Rollins alumni community.

He has led programs and webinars that elevate the intersection of public health, technology, and innovation, while also highlighting alumni who are pioneering new ventures and navigating career changes.

Friedman emphasizes the value of skills—such as strategic problem-solving, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and adaptability—that he learned at Rollins and are becoming increasingly essential in our public health and health care environments. These skills are at the core of his career, which has spurred innovation across various sectors, industries, and geographies.

“Public health skills are highly marketable and involve a collective perspective on examining systems and outcomes,” he says. “That type of thinking is in demand more 
than ever.”