Driessen will take the No. 2 position under CIO Rob Lloyd and manage the city’s business solutions and product-project divisions, according to Lloyd’s office.
San Jose’s last assistant CIO was Margaret Lamb, who retired last summer.
Lloyd told Government Technology that several qualities distinguished Driessen as a candidate to co-lead San Jose’s innovation efforts: the depth of his leadership experience and team-building work; his familiarity with project management and deploying city services; and an eye for people, processes and tech that help governments sustain initiatives over time.
“He’s very much a strategic, long-term thinker in terms of technology, people and processes,” Lloyd said. “This really is a tag team, so Jerry and I will be working very closely with our exec team here and our CISO (chief information security officer) to set a high standard for technology operations and strategy in government.”
Driessen said he and Lloyd have known each other as fellow members of MIX (Metropolitan Information eXchange) and from correspondence at e.Republic* events. Driessen saw the move as an opportunity to bring his experience in customer service, collaboration and project management to a new government with smart city initiatives on its mind.
“What’s exciting about San Jose is their strong leadership and their commitment to the smart city vision, and where they’re going with data-driven decision-making, transparency and digital inclusion. All that stuff appeals to me,” Driessen said. “There definitely is an alignment between some of the integration work that I’ve done in the past and some of the automation and digital transformation stuff that I’ve done for Hennepin County, and where (San Jose) is going.”
Before serving as CIO of Minnesota’s largest local government, Driessen was the director of business information for Hennepin County Public Safety, and the IT division manager in charge of strategic IT initiatives such as online services, community fiber and GIS. He was also a director of juvenile services in the Department of Community Corrections and Rehabilitation, responsible for divisions providing residential treatment centers, a juvenile detention center and juvenile probation.
*e.Republic is the parent company of Government Technology.
