After working two years as an IT infrastructure supervisor for McKinney, McDaniel took his two decades of telecommunications and IT experience to Seguin. He's an Air Force veteran, where he was a telephone systems journeyman, and spent several years in the private sector. The “outlaw tech exec,” as he refers to himself, holds a Bachelor of Science in IT management and a Master of Science in IT, both from American Military University. He is a National Certified Government Chief Information Officer (CGCIO), IT, and holds CISM, PMP and ITIL certifications.
Recently, McDaniel was named an executive board member of the Texas Association of Government IT Managers (TAGITM), which will have its North Texas Regional Summit Dec. 6 in Grand Prairie.
Industry Insider — Texas: As director of your organization, how do you describe your role? How have the role and responsibilities changed in recent years?
McDaniel: I would describe my role as the city executive over the business of IT. I operate between our incredibly talented IT staff and the rest of the city, facilitating technology needs, adaptation and integration internally and externally. My position was newly created in 2018 and has evolved quite a bit. The city recognized it needed enterprise technology oversight to meet the impending growth that was on the horizon. It’s been an honor to be a part of this community and the technology evolution these past few years. … I love it!
Industry Insider — Texas: What projects are unique to your organization, and what project would you point to as an example?
McDaniel: I’m going to cheat a little bit and share another enterprise effort I am incredibly proud of. We have done so much with fiber in Seguin, it’s insane. I inherited a flat network in 2018, and since then, we broke down our entire network, added layer 3, built a fiber ring and integrated 18 new sites to the ring. Today we have all but one of our sites on fiber, with plans to add that facility soon. We did a case study on our network upgrade back in 2020 that touched on the fiber effort for anyone interested in learning more.
That effort was unique simply because of the way we went about it. There was $50,000 in approved funding for a fiber study that was untouched when I started. I have a long history with fiber and felt it was clear what we needed, so we said forget the study and started working toward tangible results. The city’s electric department ran all the fiber. We found a local vendor to terminate the connections, and it has been a phenomenal partner. To date, the city has invested $87,000 to build a true fiber ring. No way that would have been possible without those relationships.
Industry Insider — Texas: What big initiatives or projects are coming up? What sorts of developing opportunities and RFPs should we be watching for in the next six to 12 months?
McDaniel: Seguin IT is always gainfully employed, as I like to say. We’re currently working on a new city website we hope to have rolled out by January. We’re wrapping up fire station alerting soon, something our fire chief has been requesting for years and we are all excited about. We are close to having the city’s legacy records fully digitized, a multiyear effort and sneaky big deal for one of the oldest cities in Texas. We’ve done so well with fiber, we were authorized ARPA funding to add a secondary ring to resolve a potentially problematic single point of failure for multiple sites. For FY 2022 capital funding, we had a security camera, battery backup and wireless infrastructure upgrades approved.
Industry Insider — Texas: Seguin recently partnered with others to update radio communication in the region and brought additional towers to a consortium radio network. Tell us about that experience.
McDaniel: My favorite tech project was the radio system upgrade a couple of years back. I knew nothing about radios but found myself leading an upgrade estimated to touch the lives of 160,000 people in the region. Our council, city management and staff were incredibly supportive.
We partnered with Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA), and they were amazing. The project was such a success the city won IT Innovation of the Year from a national media outlet and the G2C “Government to Citizen” award from GMIS International. I absolutely love that Seguin is constantly elevating what it means to deliver impactful local government technology initiatives.
Industry Insider — Texas: What people initiative have you impacted, and can you tell us about that?
McDaniel: My favorite internal effort had ... everything to do with taking care of people. I advocated for three years for certification pay, and I was so proud when it was finally approved. When I started, we had one degree and no certs on staff. Four years later, Seguin IT has seven degrees and 24 certs collectively. More than half the staff graduated from local ISDs. I love the fact that staff were brought in and that the city believed in us so much they were willing to make a financial investment in their professional advancement. I’m proud to work for an organization that understands why these things are crucial, and the proof is evident. Since 2018 Seguin IT has won 13 state and national awards, and I do not believe it’s a coincidence. Invest in your people, and they can do amazing things.
Industry Insider — Texas: What advice would you give to someone who would like to lead an IT department?
McDaniel: Integrity is everything. Be accountable, communicate well, listen better, operate with empathy, relationships will take you far, and take care of people. Passion is contagious. Your success will be contingent on your ability to bring the best out of everyone.
Industry Insider — Texas: What do you think is the greatest technology challenge to state agencies in Texas or elsewhere?
McDaniel: Cybersecurity comes right to mind, obviously, but I see the greatest challenge in government being juggling “digital transformation” in our respective organizations while advocating and/or establishing those mutually beneficial partnerships and various collaborative opportunities. A great example is the city of San Antonio’s Alamo Region Security Operations Center (ARSOC). We took a tour recently and signed Seguin on as a partner immediately through council approval. I really appreciate some of the cyber-minded laws the state has passed in recent sessions, as well. I believe collectively, we’re moving in the right direction.
Industry Insider — Texas: How do you prefer to be contacted by vendors, including via social media such as LinkedIn? How might vendors best educate themselves before meeting with you?
McDaniel: I always want vendors to know that it’s a big state and a small community in Texas local government. We all know each other. If you do right by one of us, then you do right by all of us. Clearly, the same is true in reverse. Some of our vendors have been wildly successful and have grown their business due to our mutual success. I’m happy to be an advocate for any of our business partners that take ownership of the communication and services required to support my organization.
I’ve worked with more than 300 vendors on behalf of Seguin IT since 2018. In my world, I don’t have time to engage in conversations with everyone. Nothing personal, but it’s not going to happen. If I have something that warrants doing business, then I’ll engage. I don’t care for ultra-proactive sales types. Trust me, I get the emails and voicemails. If I don’t engage, I’m doing you a favor.
Industry Insider — Texas: What professional or affinity groups do you belong to? Do you volunteer, and would you like to share that experience with readers?
McDaniel: I’m a big fan of TAGITM. I attended my first conference in 2017 and knew immediately I had found my people. I volunteered on various committees for a few years, was invited to join the board at some point, and in 2022 I was elected by my peers to the executive board. I consider it an honor and a privilege to serve the greater Texas local government community through TAGITM. A native Texan serving my fellow Texans, it’s who I am and who I want to be.
A new venture Seguin IT is pursuing is a partnership with a local ISD for a cybersecurity p-tech (partner technical school) program in conjunction with a university in San Antonio. It’s in the early stages of development, but I’m very excited for the opportunity to give back to this great community.
Industry Insider — Texas: What conferences do you attend?
McDaniel: This year, I attended TAGITM, Esri UC and I spoke at TML. I flew up to D.C. and spoke on a panel for CSO50 in September. In 2022 the city of Seguin was the only local, state or national government entity to be presented with the prestigious CSO50 award for cybersecurity alongside several Fortune 500 corporations, so it was quite an honor to attend and accept the award on behalf of the city.
The TAGITM conference is a lock on my calendar annually; we’ll be at La Cantera in San Antonio the next three years. That place is amazing. I highly recommend anyone looking to engage with technology leaders in Texas local government, ISDs and SUDs to attend.
Industry Insider — Texas: What are you reading or listening to for fun? What do you do to unplug in your downtime?
McDaniel: I recently finished Matthew McConaughey’s book Greenlights. What an interesting dude; such a free thinker! I highly recommend it and think it should be issued to every Texan. Next up is Extreme Ownership, written by Navy SEAL Jocko Willink and Leif Babin.
In my free time, I’m a nature and a Jeep guy. I love this part of Texas because it’s perfect for both. I also run a website, countryexec.com, something I enjoy doing to advocate leadership and development from a rural perspective.
