The group, which Government Technology magazine, Techwire’s sister publication, has chosen annually since 2002, spotlights the achievements of the gov tech officials and entities whose tireless work and years of public service have yielded measurable change. This year’s cohort features city leaders who met the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic directly, while continuing to champion and spearhead modernization. Here are California’s winners:
- Jonathan Behnke, chief information officer for San Diego for nearly seven years, focused his city’s deployment of digital services last year on engaging residents and city employees in smarter, more innovative ways. San Diego’s Development Services Department migrated permitting online and does virtual building inspections via Google Meet. San Diego also increased Internet access at city facilities by opening outdoor community computer labs at 10 libraries, and it enlarged the San Diego Access 4 All digital equity program with more Internet service in parks. The city plans to roll out more than 200 street-based Wi-Fi hot spots.
Internally, San Diego has adopted ITIL best practices, and more than 90 percent of its service delivery staff are certified in ITIL. The city has created a strategic technology advisory committee comprised of department directors to offer insight on priorities and tech initiatives. Two years ago, it convened a digital strategy group in IT to circle in all departments. - Jeanne Holm was Los Angeles’ deputy CIO and assistant general manager when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, then was named the city’s chief data officer in May. She served concurrently as CDO and senior technology adviser to Mayor Eric Garcetti until November, when she was named deputy mayor for budget and innovation. In that role, Holm now oversees the city’s annual budgeting process and Garcetti’s plans to bridge the digital divide and engineer the city’s fiscal recovery from the pandemic.
The pandemic, Holm said, has compressed at least five years of “IT acceleration” into the space of a year. A crucial part of delivering services during COVID-19 is the Angeleno Card, which delivers a single sign-on for city services that enables contactless connections and even has a banking component. But a bellwether project for the city was offering agents with the city’s 311 call center the option of remote work, an initiative that Holm ran. A pilot of that strategy two years ago offered important lessons on going remote last spring.
