Potok has held a succession of executive positions in government, the non-profit sector, and the private sector. She began her federal career as a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of Transportation, where she served on a detail to the Senate Appropriations Committee and a commission studying the roles and missions of the U.S. Coast Guard. Subsequently, she was a transportation program examiner in the Executive Office of the President, U.S. Office of Management and Budget; Deputy Associate Director at the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts; and Principal Associate Director at the U.S. Census Bureau during the 2000 Census. She left government to become Senior Vice President at the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center, and Chief Operating Officer at McManis & Monsalve Associates. Potok returned to government in 2009 as the Deputy Under Secretary for Economic Affairs and then was appointed the first female Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer at the United States Census Bureau prior to her appointment as Chief Statistician of the United States.
