Van Syckle has been in the role about a month. He looks forward to helping his new customers focus on outcomes, relationships and strategies.
“One thing I liked about being a state CTO was working with other states ... . So when I wanted to go to the private sector, that was the most important thing to me,” Van Syckle told Industry Insider — Texas. “I didn’t want to leave; I wanted to stay in the state and local government vertical.”
He said his transition is helping him learn not to be on high alert 24/7, as a state CTO is always on call. The Montana State Information Technology Services Division is tasked with empowering citizen service delivery and protecting information and citizen data, while also supporting counties and cities.
KWR Strategies is based in Austin, specializing in IT integration for states and state agencies. Van Syckle will continue working virtually but will work closely with KWR founder and CEO Karen Robinson.
Van Syckle said he enjoyed the challenge of finding ways to fund projects and wanted to help public-sector tech leaders find ways to make use of federal, state and other grant monies or other special funds.
“The biggest thing that I bring in is something I’ve really enjoyed in my time as CTO. A lot of times, vendors and state or local governments come together, and they have a product they want to buy, but they just can’t seem to find the funding for it or find the staff to actually deliver on it,” he said. “OK, the state has this need. We have a product over here that meets the need to deliver for the citizens ... . How can we come together and make sure we deliver on meeting that need?”
Van Syckle started at the state level with an engineering degree specializing in embedded chip design. He was Montana’s CTO for more than seven years, having served as the interim state CIO in 2018 and 2021, supervisor of enterprise infrastructure services from 2014 to 2017 and a tech team lead from 2007 to 2014.
He holds degrees in computer engineering and software engineering from the Oregon Institute of Technology and served in the Oregon Army National Guard, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also was an IT specialist in the Montana National Guard.
Van Syckle is planning to speak at Tanium Converge 2024 in Orlando, and he has been a speaker for Government Technology’s* Montana Digital Government Summit.
*Government Technology is Industry Insider — Texas’ sister publication, and both are owned by e.Republic.
