The California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) has confirmed that Lisa Senitte is the agency’s new chief information officer.
Senitte took the position after the departure of Christie Borchin, who left in August to become the Acting Deputy Director of the Office of Professional Development for the Department of Technology.
"CalVet is in a stage of technology growth in a dramatic way," Senitte said. "My goals are to lead staff in further stabilizing the technology environment and building on the existing operational recovery function in place."
CalVet’s annual IT budget is approximately $20 million and has about 70 state staff members whom Senitte will oversee.
Senitte is taking over as CalVet’s CIO while the department is implementing several new technology projects for California’s veterans, including the Enterprise-wide Veterans Home Information System (Ew-VHIS), which will digitize medical records and allow the state to better achieve revenue reimbursements, according to Senitte.
Photo courtesy of CalVet
CalVet will also be launching a new website called "CalVet Connect" to better reach benefit recipients and will be opening two new offices, one in Redding and the other in Fresno.
"[These initiatives] have created challenges as each of the above has a technology component," Senitte said.
For the future, Senitte said her goals for CalVet will be to become "more visible and competitive in the home loan arena" and to take advantage of opportunities to use mobile technology.
Prior to CalVet, Senitte worked at the Board of Equalization (BOE) for 33 years. Her most recent role for BOE was as the Chief of Enterprise Systems and Infrastructure for the Technology Department.
