Bay Area City Onboarding New IT Leader

There’s a key change underway in Bay Area IT leadership, Industry Insider — California has learned.

The shift concerns the region’s Tri-City area of Union City, Newark and Fremont.

Ed Miranda, the IT manager for the city of Fremont, has stepped down, and Friday was his last day. Miranda will step in Aug. 22 as the chief information officer for the city of Newark — but that’s not all.
Miranda, who will also be the Municipal Information Systems Association of California’s (MISAC) incoming president in January, joins Newark at a pivotal time in the municipality’s IT journey, he told Industry Insider on Friday. On May 26, the Newark City Council approved an IT reorganization that will expand its IT unit and elevate it from division to department. Miranda’s extensive IT career includes nine years as IT manager at Boeing before joining Fremont in October 2014; and nearly 10 years at PeopleSoft as IT Western region manager, assisting its transition to Oracle in 2005. He said the new role is a significant opportunity.

“This is a department that has never existed, so this was an opportunity, right? I’m coming in to really form this department and hire four people to work for me,” Miranda said. As IT manager at Fremont, he directly assisted its CIO Sanford Taylor and led the city’s Customer Service Division. He departs a city that on July 19 adopted a Citywide Fiber Optic Master Plan — an initiative he won’t get to see to fruition.

Miranda’s key highlight during his nearly eight years as IT manager and IT Services Department customer support services division manager was implementing Fremont’s inaugural customer relationship management (CRM) and 311 system, powered by Microsoft Dynamic 365. The project began at the end of 2018 and officials implemented it as both web-based and mobile to “really consolidate a single point of entry,” he said, noting Fremont’s enterprise systems team continues to integrate newer apps including police systems and Cityworks maintenance software.

“This city really has transformed,” he said. “A lot of modernization has taken place in the police department. But really, this ... it touches every department in the city and the constituents. That is something I’m proud of.” Previously, residents would have to contact the city clerk or call the city’s main telephone number — and requests were entered into a spreadsheet and communicated via email. Now, said Miranda, “It’s all consolidated into one dashboard.”

Miranda, who was born in Guam and lived in Adak, Alaska, briefly when his father served in the U.S. Navy, has a bachelor’s degree in industrial technology/quality assurance from California State University, Long Beach. He also earned a Master of Science in software management from Carnegie Mellon University, and an MBA in technology management from the University of Phoenix. While at Fremont, he earned Certified Government Chief Information Officer (CGCIO™) certification from the Rutgers University Center for Government Services.