As part of Industry Insider — California’s ongoing efforts to inform readers about state and local government agencies, their IT plans and initiatives, here’s the latest in our periodic series of interviews with the state’s IT leaders.
Rita Gass, an award-winning technology leader in state government for more than two decades, is settling in this week in her new role: chief technology and innovation officer for the Sacramento County city of Rancho Cordova.
Gass is the inaugural CTIO for the city of 81,000, a position that underscores the desire by the municipality’s leaders to incorporate smart city technology into its infrastructure.
The Philippines native began her service in state government in 1997 with the Employment Development Department, the state entity where she later became chief information officer after serving in leadership at several other state departments. Having started her state career as an IT professional for EDD, Gass moved up through the ranks — from EDD to network and system administrator for the state Franchise Tax Board, to senior systems engineer and then technical project manager for the California Energy Commission, and then to her first CIO position, with the California Conservation Corps (CCC), in 2008. Gass was subsequently named CIO for the California Secretary of State’s Office before moving to the EDD CIO role, coming full circle to where she began her career with the state.
The longtime exec is a familiar figure in the California gov tech community, having been a frequent speaker and panelist at industry briefings, conferences and forums. Last year, Gass was featured in a Government Technology* article about EDD’s challenges — specifically, massive fraud and service backlogs during the pandemic, exacerbated by outdated and sluggish technology.
Gass was part of a state government team that was named to Government Technology’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers in 2016. She was also the recipient of a National Recognition Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Information Technology in State Government from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) in 2014.
She is a graduate of the University of San Agustín in the Philippines, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in economics, and of the University of Phoenix, where she earned her Master of Science degree in computer information systems.
In an interview last week with Industry Insider — California, Gass reflected on the path that led her to the CTIO role, which she started Monday. The following is a transcript of last week’s interview with Gass, edited lightly for brevity and style.
Industry Insider — California: Having spent your career in state government, this must feel like a pretty significant transition for you.
Gass: If it was just another state department, like what I did with going from Secretary of State to EDD — that was an easy transition. I didn’t have to do a lot of paperwork. With the city change, I have to deal with all my separation from the state. It’s totally different from what the state is, and my entire career has been with the state. But this is something new to me, which is very exciting.
IICA: Did you consider moving to an industry role?
Gass: A lot of my peers have gone to the private sector, and I would not say I would never do that. But my passion is always with the government, whether it’s the state or I was even considering feds, but my next step was really for local government. And the reason for that is I want to be closer to the people. At the state, there is a lot of high-level [engagement]. It’s a lot of policies and things like that. The thing with Secretary of State that I was very interested in was not only I was going to work for Sen. [Alex] Padilla [then California secretary of state], who is an MIT graduate and all that; he was going to challenge me with technology, which was very interesting. But also, you know, with the voter [oversight] and all that, he was very close to the people. Same thing as EDD — the claimants and things like that. So you’re as close to the people as you could get being in the state. And then this opportunity came, which is even closer. That’s why I’m super excited.
IICA: Where does your new role fit in the city organization chart?
Gass: I’m going to be reporting directly to the city manager. I know it’s a very small IT shop. I’ve met some of the staff. I don’t know all the classifications yet.
IICA: What is it about the city’s smart city initiative that appeals to you?
Gass: Again, it’s a chance to interact with the residents, the community base. With the different aspects of a lot of smart devices, I’m learning and understanding what the city does — the traffic lights and parks and anything that affects the resident. That is what really is interesting to me. The role is technology and innovation officer, and from talking to the city manager, they want to enhance more on the technology side, using technology to better the community.
IICA: What takeaways or best practices from your state experience as a CIO will you bring to your new role?
Gass: From my state career, it’s always about the mission of the department. I go to where the mission is, and that is what this role is: closer to the people. I also have to say that I’m very lucky that I had such great experience. When Sen. Padilla was California secretary of state, the election website was going down before that, and he basically told me, “Rita, your main focus here is that the election website needs to be up and running, with no hiccups.” The thing that he really wanted me to make sure was that the election runs smoothly. And then at the California Conservation Corps … that shaped me to be customer-focused. Everything revolves about the customer experience, and the services and technology that goes with it.
IICA: As you look back at the state departments where you’ve worked, are there one or two projects that you look back on and say, “Yeah, I nailed that?”
Gass: At EDD, even during the pandemic, we completed over 200 projects. Some of them may be small — you know, an implementation here and there — but we have some projects that cost over $20 million, and we did it in a matter of a couple of weeks. With EDD, during the pandemic, our focus was really to get the claims paid and to mitigate fraud. At Secretary of State, we also implemented the first track-back that won an award using Microsoft framework to serve the citizens. At CCC, we won a national award for our recruitment system. I couldn’t even name everything because there were so many.
When I came in to EDD, it was mostly an on-prem department. They did not have anything in the cloud. I think they are starting to look at the cloud … because of the need during the pandemic, like the Workshare, [which] we could not have implemented without using a local technology. So we did the Salesforce IO implementation of Workshare. So we transitioned EDD from an on-prem mentality to get into the cloud. I also want to note that we also focused on cybersecurity and fraud. So we were able to justify creating a division instead of a section, and a new division under it to focus on cybersecurity and fraud. Not that EDD wasn’t doing any cybersecurity, but it’s just kind of like elevated then, you know, in the maturity of EDD, cybersecurity and also the program with the fraud initiative.
IICA: Since the pandemic began in the spring of 2020, do you feel as if the industry and/or government have had a chance to catch their breath and get their feet back under them, or do you think it’s still a movement in transition?
Gass: I think the biggest thing for EDD is they still have a few pandemic-related projects that they’re still finishing … and then of course, after the pandemic, we had to jump right back in on EDDNext, probably one of the largest IT projects in California. And other than EDDNext, they also have a lot of other projects, like moving the tax solution or system; it’s currently on-prem, and now we’re going to be moving it on the cloud. Then they’re also doing a feasibility study right now, which will become a project for CalJOBS.
IICA: Will you and the Rancho Cordova IT team be on-site, remote, or hybrid?
Gass: My position requires that I will be on-site at certain times, being [accessible] to the community. I think the hybrid approach is what is needed there. Before, during the pandemic, things were closed, you could work from home, and there's a lot of benefits in working from home. But there’s also a lot of benefits in working on-site. It needs to be weighed in terms of types of work. It’s just a matter of balancing, and what really are the needs of the job?
IICA: You’ve been a regular speaker and presenter at conferences and industry forums during your tenure with the state. Do you intend to continue that involvement in your new role with the city of Rancho Cordova?
Gass: Unfortunately, during my time with EDD, I was just so busy that it was hard for me to get out. I’m hoping that there will be some time for me now so that I can also promote what the city does, too.
IICA: How, if at all, will your relationships with industry change?
Gass: I love my vendor partners. They have been great partners. And I’m sure I will still be needing the vendor community. I also want to make sure that they know and share the success of what I’ve done, not just at EDD and Secretary of State, but even at little CCC. It’s also important to have the right vendor partners. I just wanted to thank them and say, of course, “Don’t forget about me, because I will be tapping the vendor community.”
IICA: How big a change will it be, not commuting to a state office but to a suburb instead?
Gass: Rancho Cordova is an [up-and-coming] city; they have done a great job. And the [state] data center is there, so they have a lot of great plans. They have done a lot of great things, and they really want to do a lot on the smart city initiative. And this position is brand new, so that’s also the exciting part.
*Government Technology magazine is a publication of e.Republic, which also produces Industry Insider — California.
Tech Exec Gass: ‘I Go to Where the Mission Is’
