“Under Kevin’s leadership, Covered California leveraged transformational cloud-based technologies and leading human-centered design to provide affordable, high-quality healthcare options to 39 million Californians and create better outcomes — increasing the number of insured Californians, improving healthcare quality, lowering costs, and reducing health disparities,” says the award announcement.
“To exceed these expectations, Kevin championed a modernization of Covered California’s self-service enrollment portals, enhanced the interactive shop-and-compare experience, and expanded the use of virtual assistants. He also pioneered and invested in consumer research and founded a product council to help business teams align and understand what consumers need to navigate the complex exercise of finding the right health plan that meets their family and individual needs — critically important with the end of the Public Health Emergency.
“Kevin sought to improve operational efficiencies by automating many of Covered California’s operational processes. He replaced the monolithic legacy system with a new cloud-native platform that is more manageable — enabling faster changes (weeks vs. months) and minimizing risks. And by migrating the platform to an elastic and scalable cloud solution, while implementing advanced security technologies to protect consumer data better, Kevin has successfully helped Covered California evolve to better meet the needs of all Californians.
“This modernized cloud-native platform proved critical when an unexpected need arose. In the last week of Open Enrollment, Covered California’s telephone systems experienced an unplanned outage at the most critical time. Kevin needed to stand up a new Contact Center solution immediately so that Californians who needed to can talk to a Service Center Agent and get the health insurance they need. Under Kevin’s leadership, multiple teams at Covered California and CalHHS, together with vendor partners Deloitte and AWS, worked over a weekend to implement a new Contact Center in the AWS cloud. Kevin worked across teams tirelessly and was instrumental in bringing key partners together to resume Covered California operations quickly.”
(Cornish has been featured in an Industry Insider — California One-on-One interview.)
“Mike Nguyen plays three essential executive roles, two strategic and one operational, supporting California’s transportation system,” according to the CIO Academy Awards announcement. The award was among those presented Tuesday at the close of the event.
As CTO of Caltrans and CalSTA, the announcement says, “Mike provides leadership, strategic direction, and guidance for CTOs and IT executives across Caltrans and each of the eight CalSTA entities. As chief of the Infrastructure Management Division for Caltrans, Mike oversees more than 400 IT professionals across the state. Mike oversees an infrastructure portfolio exceeding $100 million, consisting of network equipment, storage arrays, servers, more than 25,000 end-point devices and much more. Mike has been instrumental in ensuring that the technological underpinnings of the state’s transportation system operate optimally.”
Nguyen was lauded for these achievements:
- Efficiently transitioning 20,000 employees to remote work during COVID-19. “A key achievement was the rapid transition of 20,000 employees from traditional office work to a remote environment in just 30 days. With the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mike’s team led the procurement and deployment of thousands of laptops to users statewide to facilitate work-from-home, bringing the current total to over 17,000 laptops enterprise-wide. This initiative was an unprecedented operational triumph and demonstrated adept strategic maturity in organizational change management.”
- Revitalizing Caltrans’ IT infrastructure amidst global challenges: “When Mike joined Caltrans, over 70 percent of equipment was approaching or passed end-of-life. Modern IT infrastructure is the backbone of an organization and crucial to its ability to provide essential services and key to an organization’s success and security. Approval for funding at the scale of Caltrans is a challenge requiring a skilled leader who can articulate the risks and drive approvals. Upon attaining funding, Mike and his team identified, procured, and implemented the new equipment, ensuring critical operations are maintained. Mike and his team successfully established a life-cycle management program for IT infrastructure equipment that enables his team to manage critical infrastructure services proactively.”
- Elevating the IT team to excellence: “Mike’s recognition that the organization’s strength lies in its people has been pivotal in transforming Caltrans. Mike views coaching upcoming leaders as a key part of his role as the chief negotiator for Caltrans and CalSTA. His commitment to upskilling the team and refining recruitment and retention strategies has fostered a more dynamic and capable workforce. This focus on people has elevated performance and established Caltrans IT as an innovative entity in the government technology sector.”
- Leading a critical initiative under extreme time constraint: “Mike’s leadership played a critical role in the success of the Caltrans Web Accessibility for All (CWAA) initiative following the passage of Assembly Bill 434. Working with various Caltrans departments to redesign the public facing website, streamline content, upgrade outdated infrastructure, and make the entire website mobile-friendly and compliant with accessibility guidelines, the CWAA effort was completed on time. The CWAA project has shown a tangible benefit to a vast array of stakeholders who interact with California’s transportation system websites.”
The announcement adds: “Mike’s tenure at Caltrans is marked by strategic foresight, innovative solutions, and a deep commitment to excellence. His leadership in navigating Caltrans through complex challenges, modernizing its infrastructure, and elevating its security, operational capabilities, and its people make him an outstanding candidate for the California CTO of the Year.”
(Nguyen was featured in an Industry Insider — California One-on-One interview; read that here.)
A host of other state technology professionals received California IT Leadership Awards:
ALEX GABRIEL, IT Supervisor II, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
ANH Q NGUYEN, Broadband Engagement & Operations Manager, State Digital Equity Plan, California Department of Technology
BEATRIZ MONTELONGO, State Disability Insurance System Architect, California Employment Development Department
BENJAMIN BONTE, Chief Information Officer, Department of Industrial Relations
BRANDON HANSARD, Deputy Director, CalHHS Office of Technology and Solutions Integration
CAROLYN DUTY, Technical Lead, Department of Social Services
CHARLENE ALMAZAN, Software Engineer, Department of Health Care Access and Information
CHRIS STAGGS, Web Application Developer, Department of Social Services
CHRISTINA DAVIS, IT Manager I, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
CRYSTAL DAVIDSON, IT Specialist I, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
KHONE (KON) SANETHAVONG, CIO, Department of Toxic Substances Control
ERIC FREIBERG, IT Associate, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
ERNESTO MARTINEZ, IT Supervisor II, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
GANESH THIAGARAJAN, EDDNext Solutions Architect, California Employment Development Department
HENNA LIU, Associate Telecommunications Engineer, Department of Motor Vehicles
JAMES REILLY, IT Supervisor II, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
JANSSON STOUT, Principal Solutions Developer, Department of Toxic Substances Control
JEFF LILLEY, Infrastructure and Networking Support Engineer, CalHR
JEFF TAYLOR, Service Desk Supervisor, Covered California
JETAN FRERE, Manager, Accessibility and Compliance Team, CalPERS
JITHENDRA BYNI, Information Technology Manager I – Chief, Enhancements and Break-Fix Section, FI$Cal
JOEL MARSH, Production Operations Section Chief, Department of Motor Vehicles
JOEL RUSSELL, Enterprise Applications Architect, CalHR
JOHN HARDING, Lead Database Developer, CalHR
JONATHAN PORAT, State Chief Technology Officer
JUAN RAMOS, IT Manager I, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
JUDY SAECHAO, Business Analyst, CalHR
KAI JING, IT Supervisor II, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
KEVIN MOSSIAH, IT Supervisor II, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
KOJI KUMPULAINIEN, State Web Services Manager, Office of Digital Services, California Department of Technology
KWAN KIM, Chief Technology Officer and Assistant Deputy Director, Department of Motor Vehicles
LAKHBIR GREWAL, Chief of Software Platform Services Section, FI$Cal
LIJO MADASSERY, IT Supervisor II, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
LUC SOU, Chief, Project and Business Management Division, Caltrans
MAHENDRA MALLIWAL, Chief, Mainframe Benefit Services Section, Employment Development Department
MATTHEW CARSON, IT Project Manager, CalPERS
MIMI KWAK, IT Manager II, Department of Motor Vehicles
MINETTE ENRIQUEZ, IT Manager I, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
NICHOLAS KANEMOTO, IT Supervisor II, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
PHILLIP FINE, ECOS Lead Developer, CalHR
PUTHIKA CHAU, AWS Architect, Department of Motor Vehicles
RAMON NAVARRO, Lead Enterprise Web Developer, Covered California
RODNEY GASTINELL, Supervisor, Technical Support Unit, California Department of Rehabilitation
RYAN ANDERSON, IT Supervisor II, CalPERS
SAL TAVAKOLI, Information Technology Specialist I, Department of Social Services
SARITHA DHANALA, Software Engineer, Department of Health Care Access and Information
SCOTT LE, Supervisor, Infrastructure Services Unit, California Department of Rehabilitation
THERESA GILES, Senior Enterprise Architect, Department of Public Health
TRACI SCHELL, IT Supervisor II, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
VINCENT DANG, Web Application Developer, Department of Social Services
WYMAN WONG, ITS III, Department of Social Services
In addition, teams of technologists from across state government were recognized for their achievements. Industry Insider — California will report details of those awards this week.
*e.Republic is the parent company of Industry Insider — California and Government Technology, among other publications.
