Each year, Government Technology — Techwire’s sister publication — travels the nation in search of the public sector’s most innovative change-makers. The 2015 list recognizes several high-profile leaders making a difference in California:
Chris Cruz , CIO, California Department of Health Care Services
Chris Cruz deftly balances both the big picture and the smallest details. Since becoming CIO and deputy director of the massive Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) in late 2010, Cruz has overseen a $1 billion project portfolio and some of California’s biggest IT initiatives, including a mission-critical Medicaid Management Information System expansion.
Team Los Angeles: Eric Garcetti, Mayor; Rick Cole, Deputy Mayor for Budget and Innovation; Ron Galperin, Controller; Bob Blumenfield, Councilmember
You’d be hard pressed to find a city better equipped to boldly confront its tech future than Los Angeles. Originally a Government Technology Top 25 honoree in 2007 when he was first elected to the City Council, Eric Garcetti assumed office as mayor in July 2013.
Since then, he’s appointed the city’s first chief innovation technology officer, Peter Marx of Qualcomm Labs, as well as its first chief data officer, former Code for America co-executive director Abhi Nemani, to serve alongside IT Agency General Manager (and fellow past Top 25 award-winner) Steve Reneker.
Rami Zakaria, CIO, Sacramento County
The Great Recession was a turning point for many local governments as revenues plummeted and budgets shrank. For Sacramento County, agencies had to change the way they did business, and none more so than the Department of Technology. By the time Rami Zakaria became the county’s CIO in 2011, a massive consolidation effort was under way, saving millions of dollars while improving IT services to internal and external customers. Zakaria says his staff of dedicated professionals is the reason the county completed the consolidation so successfully.
Sam Blakeslee, Founding Director, Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy
At the intersection of public policy and technology stands Sam Blakeslee, founder and director of the Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy (IATPP) at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California. A former state senator, Blakeslee’s vision is to bring policy leaders, industry experts, students and faculty together to develop and deploy practical solutions to complex challenges facing society in the areas of open government, education and energy. The IATPP’s first open government project is Digital Democracy, an online platform that enables users to research, view, clip and share video of California Senate and Assembly committee hearings.
Bryan Sastokas, CIO, Oakland, California
On the doorstep of Silicon Valley, Oakland is in the midst of a technological renaissance, having launched a new open source records request system called RecordTrac and encouraged hackathons for kids in low-income communities. In the center of it all is CIO Bryan Sastokas.
Carolyn Hogg, CIO, Fresno
For nearly eight years, Carolyn Hogg has used her open leadership style to further the reach of technology in Fresno, the hub of California’s fertile San Joaquin Valley. Hogg is keeping an eye on the future of broadband, promoting agricultural technology and water research, finding new opportunities in work-sourcing models like contests, fine-tuning an open data policy and building relationships that create regional opportunities.
See the full list of Government Technology’s Top 25 “Doers, Dreamers and Drivers” and read more about the California winners at Govtech.com
