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Michael_Armstrong_Fellow

Michael Armstrong

Expertise

Networks
Large-scale implementations
Leading change
Risk analysis and strategy development
Organizational dynamics

Michael Armstrong’s career path could hardly be called traditional. He didn’t come up through the IT ranks. He purchased the first desktop computer for his employer in Lexington, Kentucky, and 15 years later that one computer had grown to 1,200. Support teams were in place for desktops and networks, and one of the first fiber-based municipal networks was up and running.

In 1997 Armstrong served as CIO and assistant city manager for Des Moines, Iowa, which was ranked No. 1 in the Digital Cities Survey in two out of four years. He managed his first ERP implementation, coordinated the transition from a mainframe to a desktop environment and built a fiber network that was extended to several other jurisdictions to become regional resource.

He moved to San Antonio, Texas, literally days before the Hurricane Katrina rescue operations began. San Antonio cared for about 19,000 refugees during this time. He then helped lay the groundwork for improvements that the city made later.

He moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, in 2007 to work with the country’s first wide-area (144 square-mile) Wi-Fi mesh network, which had not fulfilled its promise since it was completed in 2005. His first task was to negotiate the return of the network from EarthLink, which had purchased it earlier the same year and then decided to leave the Wi-Fi business. A year later, after a redesign to provide government services, the network was relaunched for government and public use and has proved to have been a good investment and become a prized community amenity. The Wi-Fi network, along with more than 100 miles of city-owned fiber, allows Corpus Christi to provide connectivity literally anywhere in the city on short notice. Use of the network has been included in the city’s emergency response plan.

Corpus Christi was rated in the top 10 in the Digital Cities Survey for six consecutive years, with a first place finish in 2009. Corpus Christi was rated No. 1 twice in the years before Armstrong’s arrival. The city has been known as an early adopter and moved its first enterprise system to the “cloud” in 2008. It has become very aggressive in moving to the cloud. It undertook an ERP replacement, a courts software replacement, a utility billing replacement, and a permitting and inspection management project at the same time, moving all but one system to the cloud. Email had been transferred to the cloud several years ago.

Armstrong had the unique privilege of locating, recruiting and hiring his successor. This is a very useful succession management strategy. After several months, she was ready to step in at any time, with no disruption to the organization.

Armstrong has a Bachelor's degree in English from the University of Kentucky.

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