Background
Technology, public administration, and service.
Garrett Collier holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science from Hendrix College. He is from Hot Springs, Arkansas, and his public work has increasingly focused on the relationship between local institutions, civic information, technology, and community problem-solving.
Family, faith, and service shape how Garrett approaches his work. His writing and speaking examine responsibility, uncertainty, and the relationship between individual choices and the systems around them.
Public administration gives Garrett a second lens for understanding systems: government structures, incentives, budgets, accountability, implementation, public trust, and the people affected by policy choices. His writing is meant to translate that kind of analysis into clear explanations for everyday readers.
Experience
Software development and operational systems.
Garrett's technical background includes software development, database design, process automation, data systems, and enterprise work. At Acxiom LLC, he has worked as a Solution Developer on secure financial systems projects and earlier projects involving Snowflake, Streamlit, Oracle, Excel automation, and reporting workflows.
At The "I Love U Guys" Foundation, he serves as a Full Stack Developer and works on website development and digital infrastructure supporting school-safety protocols, crisis response, and reunification work.
- October 2023 - PresentFull Stack Developer - The "I Love U Guys" Foundation
- December 2022 - PresentSolution Developer - Acxiom LLC
- May 2021 - December 2022Solution Developer Intern - Acxiom LLC
- Summer 2022Advanced Computational Research Experience (iCER ACRES) - Michigan State University
- August 2021 - May 2022Teaching Assistant - Hendrix College
Explore the work and technical details
Municipal and civic involvement
Garrett has served on the Hot Springs Planning Commission, Board of Zoning and Adjustments, and Arts Advisory Committee. His civic work also includes OpenHotSprings and a campaign for Hot Springs City Director.
Selected skills
Education & Research
Computer science, public administration, and computational research.
University of Southern California (USC)
Master of Public Administration, 2025. Garrett’s graduate work connects public policy, institutional decision-making, and technology. His coauthored capstone, Eyeing the AI Supply Chain Economy: Unleashing America’s AI Economic Potential, examines workforce, computing, energy, capital, and governance constraints on AI development. He led the project’s Decision Making under Deep Uncertainty (DMDU) analysis, applying computational modeling to evaluate policy robustness, institutional feasibility, and adaptive responses across 10,000 simulated futures.
Hendrix College
Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science, 2022. His undergraduate education provides the foundation for his work in software development, database design, and process automation.
Education chronology
- May 2023 - August 2025Master of Public Administration - University of Southern California (USC)
- August 2019 - December 2022Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science - Hendrix College
- August 2016 - May 2019High School Diploma - Hot Springs High School
Research Experience
Public-policy and computational research
USC Master of Public Administration capstone report
In August 2025, Garrett coauthored Eyeing the AI Supply Chain Economy: Unleashing America’s AI Economic Potential with Jarred Cornell, Sherrelle Filimoehala, and Luis Rubalcava. He led the project’s Decision Making under Deep Uncertainty (DMDU) analysis, integrating software development with computational policy evaluation. The analysis compared policy robustness, institutional feasibility, and adaptive strategies across 10,000 simulated futures using Robust Decision Making, Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways, and exploratory modeling.
Read the capstone overview and full report
Michigan State University computational research
At Michigan State University, Garrett worked alongside Dr. Andrew Bender building MRI data-analysis automation scripts, including SAVAnT and SiVERaL, to automate repeatable setup for design matrices, contrast matrices, BASH scripts, and cluster-submitted analysis workflows.
Writing & Speaking
Good decisions, uncertain outcomes, and what comes next.
Garrett’s writing ranges from sourced policy analysis to broader questions about responsibility, ambition, and uncertainty. His featured keynote, You Can Do Everything Right and Still Lose, examines why the quality of a decision cannot be measured by its outcome alone.
Values
Substance, clarity, and responsibility.
The common thread across Garrett’s technology work, public-service involvement, and writing is a desire to understand complicated systems clearly enough to improve them. That means taking evidence seriously, explaining tradeoffs honestly, and building tools that serve a real public or organizational need.
His working standard is straightforward: be useful, be clear, take responsibility seriously, and treat public trust as something earned through decisions.