Bola is taking the position of director of Enterprise Services for the Sacramento-based Los Rios Community College District, which began a recruitment for the role in February. His last day at the Department of Technology (CDT) is Friday.
As deputy state chief technology innovation officer (CTIO), Bola was among the winners of a CIO Academy Award, given at the California Virtual Public Sector CIO Academy in March. Bola has also been a frequent speaker at industry forums, conferences and webinars.
The nine-year CDT veteran played a key role during the first critical months of the pandemic, when he and his team worked quickly to stand up a variety of projects including 21 dashboards and 18 pandemic-related websites and applications. During his tenure in CDT’s Office of Enterprise Technology (OET), he also led several key strategies to support the state’s digital transformation.
“Working at CDT for the past nine years has been a privilege and honor,” Bola told Techwire. “A highlight of that time has been leading the amazing team in the Office of Enterprise Technology. We showed how quickly and how well state technology can deliver accessible, high-performing products in response to California’s most critical needs.”
The state CIO and CDT’s director, Amy Tong, praised Bola’s work ethic and his positivity.
“Manveer is an exceptionally dedicated public servant,” Tong told Techwire. “He always puts extra effort into everything he does. I am especially grateful for his tireless work ethic, quick response and determined outlook to get things done. On behalf of the CDT family, I wish him the very best.”
Bola has been in government since his graduation from California State University at Sacramento in 2005, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business with a focus on management information systems and finance. Bola started his career with the State Board of Equalization, beginning in 2005 as a project manager and then as project director for Digital BOE, managing a multimillion-dollar portfolio of critical and complex IT projects, according to a CDT spokesperson.
In 2012, he moved to CDT, first as chief of statewide technology strategic planning and policy and then being named deputy state chief technology innovation officer in 2019.
In his new role at Los Rios, Bola will oversee teams who work in networking, storage, database, server administration, virtualization of applications, servers, desktops, data management, information security, help desk, telecommunications, unified communications, learning management systems/academic applications, asset management, and project and portfolio management.
His responsibilities will include project oversight; leadership and coordination; collaboration and team building; project documentation and deliverables; and training and staff development. He will also be charged with “constantly assessing existing and emerging technologies and (identifying) those that can contribute most effectively to the business objectives and goals at the district and college levels.”
He’ll be reporting to Tamara Armstrong, the associate vice chancellor for IT at Los Rios, with whom he worked when both were with CDT.
“If approved by the board, Los Rios is excited to welcome Manveer to our team,” Armstrong told Techwire. “Manveer’s experience with collaborating with stakeholders to deliver innovative technology solutions will be a valuable contribution to the work of the Los Rios Community College District in delivering high-quality instruction and facilitating student success.”
Bola said he leaves with mixed feelings.
“While I’m looking forward to the next stage of my career,” he said, “I’m sure I’ll miss the teamwork and camaraderie that’s been part of CDT.”
