The Republic of Texas created GLO in 1836, making it the oldest state agency in Texas.
“While land management was the reason our agency was created, over the 186 years of our existence, we’ve inherited a number of other responsibilities along the way,” said Cory Wilburn, who served as chief information officer from 2015 until this fall. “Today, our agency includes at least five distinct verticals, and that’s if you look at it from a high level. Long story short, our organization has a very diverse set of missions.”
The agency is tasked with:
- Managing state lands
- Operating the Alamo
- Helping residents recovering from natural disasters
- Helping fund public education through the Permanent School Fund
- Providing benefits to Texas veterans
- Managing the state’s coastline
Budget: Estimated at $2.3 billion overall with an $8.7 million IT budget, according to Industry Navigator.* According to Wilburn, the FY 2022 capital budget was $3.2 million. The IT department had the most procurement activity in March of this year.
Leadership: Commissioner George P. Bush was elected as Texas land commissioner and took office on Jan. 2, 2015. Its former CIO, Wilburn, was with GLO for more than 17 years. Find his Industry Insider “One-on-One” interview from May here.
Staff: There are about 750 full-time agency employees and about 58 full-time IT employees. These comprise desktop support, network administration, software development, business analysis, project management, and geospatial and business services.
When he spoke to Industry Insider — Texas in May, Wilburn listed great strides in information security and delivery of line-of-business solutions as “meaningful projects” in the IT shop.
*Industry Navigator is a product of e.Republic, which also produces Industry Insider — Texas.
