Ravi Bhadana Appointed CIO of Pesticide Regulation

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation has a new CIO in Ravi Bhadana, the former chief digital transformation officer from the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. His first day with the department was Sept. 9.

Bhadana replaces Samuel Silva, who jumped to the same position with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) in March.

Bhadana has spent more than 15 years in both the public and private sectors. Before joining CalOES, he was an IT management consultant with Deloitte. His resume also includes time with MK Partners, CauseForce, DCM Data Systems and IBM.

The newly minted CIO said that while the missions of the two state offices are very different — one geared toward saving lives while the other is focused on the state’s diverse agricultural sector — he is looking forward to learning all he can about his new organization.

“It's very different style than CalOES, so I need to get adapted to it,” Bhadana said. “At CalOES we were more focused on, on moving things faster at a pace because lives were at stake. Here we are more policy-driven. We are focusing on how agriculture operates, how our farmers are using different chemicals, or companies who are selling these chemicals, what ingredients ... or blend of the chemicals are entering in California?”

The first few months in his new role will be an opportunity to learn all he can about the CDPR mission and where technology can help.

“The department has a lot of priorities, but primarily aligning all technology strategic initiatives toward the organization's strategic plans is a goal right now,” he said.

When it comes to what he’d like to see from his private sector colleagues, Bhadana said he hopes that vendors focus less on where departments could go and more on where they actually are. While industry has the luxury of taking risks and trying new things, government needs to be cautious with the resources it's granted from taxpayers, the CIO said.

“Where private sector can come and really help us better is to meet us where we are today, instead of showing us a vision, how fast they are moving, how fast we are supposed to move. If they can meet us where we are, and how do we gradually move and migrate from that stage over to the automation or further stages that emerging tech is proposing, would be ideal,” Bhadana said.

In addition to serving in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, Bhadana holds a Master of Science in management information systems from California State University, Los Angeles.