Government Technology’s 2013 "Doers, Dreamers and Drivers" issue includes three high-profile Californians on its Top 25 list – Senator Alex Padilla, California Technology Agency Secretary Carlos Ramos and Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Agency CIO Joe Panora.
According to the cover story in the March issue out today, those on the this year’s list are “truly are changing the game” with high energy and innovation. To come up with a list of nominees, Government Technology’s staff travels the country, attending events and roundtable discussions with readers.
Reprinted here with the magazine’s permission, below are the write ups. Senator Padilla is featured on the cover. Read the entire issue here.
Senator Alex Padilla
As technology extends further into our everyday lives, lawmakers are scrambling to govern the impact of rapid industry advances. In California, Sen. Alex Padilla is at the forefront of those public policy issues. Armed with a degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Padilla has been a driving force for technology legislation at the state level, as well as locally during a stint on the Los Angeles City Council. Padilla authored SB 1298 in 2012, for example, a bill that outlined safety standards and performance guidelines for driverless vehicles. He also chairs the California Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications. Padilla’s educational background lets him view policy issues through an engineering and technological lens. He said California is just scratching the surface on new technologies for health care and genetic research, and legislative protections are needed in those and other areas to avoid legal pitfalls. Genome sequencing is one area in particular that needs legislation to help guard citizens’ sensitive data, he said. "We have laws on the books at the federal and state level that will help you protect your financial information or even your own identity, but those protections are not in place for genetic information," Padilla said. "I want to make sure people who participate and try to advance their own health care&hellip do so confidently that the information won’t be used against them or used nefariously or unintentionally in the future."
– BRIAN HEATON, SENIOR WRITER
Agency CIO Joe Panora
Technology may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about corrections, but Joe Panora is working to change that mentality. As director of the Enterprise Information Services Division for California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), he views technology as a tool for improving business operations. Public safety is at the heart of corrections, he says, but its business covers nearly all functions of government, including people management, budget, public access, health care and education. Panora uses technology to improve California’s largest department from all angles, whether that’s finding cost avoidance through green IT or streamlining the visitor appointment scheduling process. Recent wins include launching a state-of-the-art financial management system that automates back-office processes and virtualizing the CDCR’s computer equipment in the state’s tier-three data center, a move that prevented the department from spending millions of dollars to upgrade its own data center facility. Currently Panora is replacing multiple 30-year-old legacy systems with a single integrated Strategic Offender Management System. "This will give us the true enterprise data offender management standpoint from when an offender comes in to when they’re released," he said. While working to elevate and increase the efficiency of the CDCR’s technology operations, Panora leans on decades of public-sector experience. He joined California government in 1980, launching a career that has spanned five departments. "I think anytime that you have exposure to different organizations and they have a different type of business that they’re delivering to California, you’re able to take those best practices forward," Panora said. And implementing those best practices in California’s corrections system ultimately benefits everyone in the state.
– ELAINE PITTMAN, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Technology Agency Secretary Carlos Ramos
Carlos Ramos has been a power player in California IT for more than 20 years. Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him as the state’s secretary of technology in 2011, capping a run that’s seen Ramos hold numerous public and private high-level offices, including director of the state’s Office of Systems Integration — overseeing a $4.5 billion portfolio of technology projects — and senior technology executive of California’s massive Health and Human Services Agency. In his current role, Ramos leads a drive to use technology to facilitate services and citizen engagement. "In people’s day-to-day lives, they rely on technology for a whole host of things, whether it’s banking [or] entertainment, but the key isn’t technology itself, it’s the ability to take care of your financial transactions or to access music," he said. "It’s the same thing in government. Technology itself isn’t the key, it’s being able to support government’s role of service to citizens." That mindset guides many of Ramos’ technological priorities today. He’s proud of California’s robust collection of mobile apps for citizens, for instance. Ramos says state agencies have deployed roughly 70 Web apps that Californians can access on their mobile devices, simplifying the availability of services and information. He points to a Department of Veterans Affairs’ app that gives users information about benefits and local facilities. Ramos brings considerable expertise to his current position. He helped architect the consolidation of the state’s largest data centers and create California’s Office of Technology Services. It’s a background that gives Ramos the right mix of skills for applying technology to the state’s formidable bureaucracy. "With a state this large and a government this complex, nothing we take on in California is easy," he said. "We have challenges in managing some of those big, complex technology initiatives, but I think we’re moving in the right direction."
– HILTON COLLINS, STAFF WRITER
