Director, National Processing Center, U.S. Census Bureau

David Hackbarth has been director of the U.S. Census Bureau’s National Processing Center in Jeffersonville, Ind., since April 2006. He manages a data processing facility featuring the latest telecommunications and computer technologies to support the nation’s economic and demographic indicators. Services provided on the 80-acre campus include mail processing, data capture, statistical operations, geographic operations and call-center support. 

The National Processing Center, in operation since 1958, features approximately 1 million square feet of data processing space. It is the second-largest employer in southern Indiana, averaging about 2,000 workers. Peak employment reached 5,500 during Census 2010.

Hackbarth started his Census Bureau career in 1985 as an automation specialist at the bureau’s Suitland, Md., headquarters. He analyzed and improved survey-processing methodology for key demographic projects.

In 1992, he joined the Computer Assisted Survey Information Collection staff as an automation expert and provided new integrated solutions and services for survey processing at the Census Bureau. Hackbarth led a team that replaced the National Processing Center’s (then Data Preparation Division) legacy system with a new key-from-paper data capture technology and then transitioned more than 100 surveys to the new environment.

In 1993, he moved to the Technologies Management Office and continued to manage technology advancements in data collection and data processing. He developed the first technology refreshment cost model for laptop computers that was implemented throughout the Census Bureau’s national operations.

Hackbarth became the assistant division chief for technology and information at the National Processing Center in 1999, focusing on envisioning, advocating and implementing innovative changes that boost efficiency and reduce costs. 

Hackbarth graduated from Winona State University in Minnesota, majoring in mathematics and statistics with a minor in business administration. He lives with his wife, Bonnie, and two teenage daughters, Chelsea and Victoria, in Louisville, Ky.