Gurinder Bains, who served as a technology executive with the state of California for more than 15 years, was named to his position with the Bay Area city this month.
Bains began his IT career with Sun Microsystems, where he was an engineer for more than eight years. He joined state government in December 2005, serving as deputy director of the Legislative Data Center. In December 2010, he was named branch chief for IT Operations for the California Department of Child Support Services, and then in June 2016 he was named CIO for the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC), his most recent role before moving to his new role in Oakland.
As the IT leader for CSAC, Bains and his team notched a success by moving the commission from a legacy grant management system to a new system — for which he served as the systems integrator as a way of saving the state money and expediting the project.
Techwire profiled that project recently.
“We have leaped forward in so many things, and the only reason is because all these local vendors supported us, and staff stepped up their game and, over time, CDT helped, the Governor’s Office helped, the Department of Finance kept the money flowing, and the Legislature helped, and execs helped, and eventually, the project is up and running,” Bains told Techwire.
Bains received his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Cal State East Bay, and his master’s in business from John F. Kennedy University.
Techwire will have an interview with Bains in the coming days.
