State CIO Bailey-Crimmins Announces Retirement

Liana Bailey-Crimmins announced in a LinkedIn post late Friday that she will be departing the California Department of Technology (CDT).

The charismatic and well-respected state CIO and director of CDT has been in place since June 2022, piloting the dynamic department through periods of significant change and even crisis. Prior to being named CIO, Bailey-Crimmins was CDT’s chief technology officer between March 2021 and June 2022.

“After 38 years of public service, together with my family, I have made the difficult decision to retire. I am so grateful for the partnerships and collaboration not only during my tenure as CIO but throughout my career,” she wrote in the post.

A key focus throughout her nearly four decades in public service has been on technology that serves end users and smooths the connections between residents and critical services. In late February, the CIO told Industry Insider — California that she sees her department’s role in the state as an enabler more than an IT authority.

“When we think about government technology, sometimes it’s about the software, the hardware, the policies, but it truly can be a lifeline for people that need benefits and services,” she said at the time.

This was perhaps most evident in CDT’s on-the-ground response providing technical and operational support to survivors of the devastating 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. As part of its response, with other departments, CDT provided survivors with streamlined access to city, county and state resources through the first-of-its-kind state portal.

“We didn’t let bureaucracy get in our way,” she said last month. “We knew that we needed to get something digitally available, not to replace the physical — you had both, right? But you could choose. But ours was open 24 by seven, bringing to bear all of the different services.”

The CIO has also been an outspoken advocate for more equitable Internet access through the state’s Middle-Mile Broadband Initiative. That undertaking has laid the foundation for an expansive high-speed fiber-optic network in parts of the state that have historically been overlooked by major providers, including many of the state’s rural and tribal communities.

Bailey-Crimmins’ resume is made up of 38 years of public-sector experience. In 2003, she worked as a data processing manager for the California Youth Authority, before moving on to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in 2005, and then to leadership roles within the California Prison Health Care Services.

In 2013, she joined the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), where she would serve as CIO, chief health director, and finally, as its chief information security officer.

“From the tape room to the boardroom to the advent of Generative AI in government services, it has been the privilege of my life to be a steward of good for the people of California,” she wrote.

Bailey-Crimmins told Industry Insider in February that her leadership approach centers on compassion for those she works with and a deep sense of responsibility to the taxpayers of California.

“I will say that public service as a whole is just so rewarding,” she said in February. “Technology is meaningless if it isn’t serving people, how, when and where they need the services.”