As part of Industry Insider — California’s ongoing efforts to educate readers on state agencies, their IT plans and initiatives, here’s the latest in our periodic series of interviews with departmental IT leaders.
Rachel White is chief information officer at the California Air Resources Board (CARB), a role she has had since December 2021. CARB is one of six entities under the California Environmental Protection Agency umbrella. She was previously a senior IT project manager at InterVision Systems from March 2019-December 2021, where her clients were the California Community College Technology Center and the Los Rios Community College District IT Office. White’s earlier roles include serving as IT project manager to the California High-Speed Rail Authority from 2017-2019.
White’s education includes a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Davis Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Science degree in IT from the University of Phoenix. She is now earning a doctorate in IT management at Capella University.
Industry Insider — California: As CIO at your organization, how do you describe your role? How have your role and responsibilities changed in recent years in terms of their intersection with IT and innovation?
White: My role is to oversee the strategic planning, policy, oversight and influence of information technology at the California Air Resources Board. I lead a team of senior-level technology managers, setting metrics and goals for improving IT services and operations at CARB. I am also an adviser, relationship builder and customer advocate for CARB’s program divisions, executives and the larger California Environmental Protection Agency. Finally, I focus regularly on building strong future leaders on my team, coaching them on both IT strategy and leading with empathy and vulnerability.
IICA: Does your organization have a strategic plan, and may we hyperlink to it? How big a role do you personally play in writing that strategic plan?
White: CARB has a Vision & Roadmap here. While I was not involved in the development of CARB’s Vision & Roadmap, I use it often to develop input for CARB’s IT Strategic Plan, which I am fully responsible for developing.
IICA: What big initiatives or projects are coming up? What sorts of developing opportunities and RFPs should we be watching for in the next six to 12 months?
White: Modernizing and securing CARB’s legacy systems is one of my top priorities, as is our continued movement to the cloud. In addition, we are creating new or modified regulatory systems for Senate Bill 210 (Heavy-Duty Inspection and Maintenance System and Clean Air Reporting Log), Assembly Bill 617 (Community Air Protection) and the Refrigerant Management Program. Some of our larger upcoming opportunities include services for methane satellite data and a program for mobile monitoring data. We are also building out expanded services in our newly implemented Salesforce platform, as well as ServiceNow.
IICA: In your opinion, what should local government be doing more of in technology?
White: Leading with vulnerability and being courageous. When I first arrived at CARB, there were several broken relationships and partnerships that needed repair. Collaboration and trust had diminished, and IT was becoming a roadblock to innovation, resulting in program leaders exploring shadow IT solutions. As an IT service division, it is critical to build and foster partnerships and develop solutions in tandem as a foundation for innovation and success. Since my arrival, I have been coaching and mentoring my IT team on the writing of Brené Brown in her book Dare to Lead. Together, we read and discuss the book’s thoughts on vulnerability and empathy, and how that builds trust and stronger connections in organizations and teams. It truly gets the leadership team thinking about how they can apply this in their daily interactions with our stakeholders and staff. We look at difficult conversations as “rumble” opportunities. A rumble is where we give ourselves permission to enter a discussion with open hearts and minds, lean into vulnerability, stay curious about the problem, and listen with the same passion as we would want to be heard. This is where we do our best work as technology leaders, where we disarm ourselves from how we “normally” do things, and how we foster innovation. Doing this work has helped us repair relationships and trust with our stakeholders. Too often, local IT government leaders have a fear of this approach.
IICA: How do you define “digital transformation?” How far along is your organization in that process, and how will you know when it’s finished?
White: CARB has made great strides in digital transformation. Very little is left in terms of digitizing our processes. We do have some work left to do regarding legacy systems and our cloud strategy, as mentioned in my priorities for CARB. However, the beauty of digital transformation is that the work will never truly be done. There will always be a new standard and a new technology. We should constantly be asking ourselves: How do we best deliver value to our customers and the public? Not too long ago, digital transformation was all about online forms and being cloud-based. Now we have AI entering the picture, and the challenge of embracing and incorporating it into our organization.
IICA: What is your estimated IT budget and how many employees do you have? What is the overall budget?
White: I have about 100 employees dedicated to CARB’s IT Division (Office of Information Services) and a budget of $37 million. We also have around 20-30 contractors providing support services.
IICA: How do you prefer to be contacted by vendors, including via social media such as LinkedIn? How might vendors best educate themselves before meeting with you?
White: The best way to contact me is introductions via a mutual connection.
IICA: In your tenure in this position, which project or achievement are you most proud of?
White: I am most proud of the recent accomplishments of my IT Science and Technology Branch, where we have made it our focus to improve our cloud-based GIS technologies. We recently won an Esri Special Achievement in GIS Award for this work. At CARB, we have fully embraced the geographic approach and built a GIS program that can scale to the needs of the entire organization. We have established a service delivery approach that is responsive to the business needs of programs and supports the architecture demands that are needed to meet these program goals. The Science and Technology Branch in my IT division is the primary point of contact for CARB programs to call on when new geospatial capabilities are needed to meet regulatory needs. One example is the GIS solutions for Assembly Bill 617, which supports community-focused and community-driven actions to reduce air pollution emissions and exposure. Previously, the team shared air pollution data with local air districts and community members through spreadsheets, printed maps and presentation slides. They have spent the last couple of years reimagining this workflow and identifying tools to present data in a more tactile and easily digestible manner. We have embraced GIS as an enterprise business solution, and we are in the process of developing a Geospatial Strategy, which will further expand CARB’s goals and capabilities to ensure that GIS supports the entire organization.
IICA: What has surprised you most in government technology during the past 12 months?
White: Flexibility and speed. The pandemic has shown IT government leaders that we can respond quicker than we ever had in the past and that we can be more agile, innovative and flexible in our approach. I have also been pleasantly surprised by their efforts to embrace remote or hybrid options in the workforce, empowering us to expand recruitment of experienced technologists in more distant areas of the state, offering jobs and opportunities to disadvantaged areas, or areas hit hardest by recent tech layoffs (like California’s Bay Area).
IICA: What do you read to stay abreast of developments in the gov tech/SLED sector?
White: I am subscribed to e.Republic’s Government Technology*. I also follow other state governments, consulting firms and technology leaders on LinkedIn, and read related articles they share or post.
IICA: What are your hobbies and what do you enjoy reading?
White: I rarely have time for hobbies and free reading, having just finished my STEM MBA at the University of California, Davis, and embarking on a Ph.D. in IT management. However, in the little spare time I do have, I enjoy spending it with my 12-year-old son, traveling together, cooking new vegetarian recipes and attending his many band and athletic events. My son and I also like to play board and strategy games at the dinner table together and watch all the newest Marvel movies (he is a big Avengers fan, so I must keep up). Independently, I enjoy listening to podcasts on health, nutrition and the environment, and have recently started watching gardening tips and videos on YouTube.
*Government Technology magazine is a publication of e.Republic, which also produces Industry Insider — California.
Editor’s note: This interview has been lightly edited for style and brevity.
State Air Board CIO: Modernizing, Securing Legacy a Top Priority
