Timothy P. Olson

Timothy P. Olson serves as the agency's associate director for field operations. He is responsible for all data collection and data processing conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for surveys and censuses.

Olson directs a nation-wide network of offices and home-based field staff, including the National Processing Center in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and regional offices in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles. The directorate employs approximately 11,000 permanent staff during non-census years, and then swells to more than 500,000 temporary employees during the decennial census.

Olson began his census career in 1987 as a temporary employee in the Seattle region during the 1990 Census. He later joined the Census Bureau’s headquarters team in 2001 and has supported numerous areas, including the agency's Special Census program, American Community Survey field data collection efforts, and the 2010 Census partnership program. In 2013, he became the agency’s first respondent advocate, and in 2014 became the chief of Field Division. Olson became the associate director for field operations in 2015.

Olson is the recipient of numerous awards, including three Gold and Silver awards from the U.S. Department of Commerce, two Bronze awards from the Census Bureau, and the Census Director's Award for Innovation. Olson earned a bachelor of arts degree in history from St. Paul Bible College in 1983 and a master of divinity from the Alliance Theological Seminary in 1986.