New Man at Iowa's IT Helm

John Gillispie, who recently served as executive director of the Iowa Telecommunications and Technology Commission, is stepping up to the post of Chief Operating Officer of the Technology Enterprise for the state. Gillispie made the move to Iowa's telecom commission in December 2002, from the private sector where he was executive director of infrastructure and data centers for Wiltel Communications, headquartered in Tulsa, OK.

Gillispie was chosen to fill the post held by high-profile CIO Richard Varn who was part of a sweep of resignations demanded by Gov. Thomas Vilsack at the close of 2002. Varn had led the state's technology agenda from an enterprise point of view and built a reputation as an aggressive advocate of e-government who occasionally raised the ire of Iowa's elected officials. Since his departure the IT department has been abolished and the CIO no longer reports to the governor. Gillispie will report to the director of the state's Department of Administrative Services and will be overseeing both IT and the Iowa Telecom network -- a system that's been a political football for years.

Most recently, the Iowa State Legislature passed a bill to sell off the state-owned network and Gov. Vilsack promptly vetoed the bill. According to one e-government analyst who asked to remain anonymous, Iowa's IT structure is in disarray and new leadership will face a number of organizational challenges.

Gillispie has a Master's Degree in business administration from Oklahoma State University and a B.S. in business data processing from Southwest Missouri State University.