New Generation of Public CIOs Bring Talent, Innovation

What enables some CIOs to make sweeping changes, while others struggle to have an impact?

Some CIOs find themselves swimming upstream against a turbulent combination of dysfunctional organizations and political leaders scared of technological change. Yet across the country, a pool of new talent is entering the CIO ranks -- many bringing private-sector experience to their new roles -- and finding themselves in a position to instill real change. These CIOs are making progress, in part because they have developed a sophisticated understanding of the political and business objectives of their jurisdictions and made clear how the IT organization can play a constructive role.

Public CIO's editors chose six of these leaders to profile, because they are emblematic of a new type of government IT executive focused on innovation, and in some cases extending the definition of the traditional CIO's role.

The Entrepreneur
Vivek Kundra
Chief Technology Officer, Washington, D.C.

Long before he became Washington, D.C.'s chief technology officer (CTO) in 2007, Vivek Kundra knew there were shortcomings with the district's use of technology.

"My dad has taught at Calvin Coolidge High School here for 16 years," said 33-year-old Kundra. "When I was in college, I would spend a considerable amount of time helping him with his school computers because IT wouldn't show up. I have known about the dismal state the public school system's technology was in for many years."

Hired last year by Mayor Adrian Fenty to make big changes in how the district uses technology, Kundra is combining his experience working as the assistant secretary of commerce and trade for Virginia and as an executive of Evincible Software, a startup company that develops digital and electronic signature software.

In essence, he is trying to bring the startup mentality to the public sector. One of his first discoveries as CTO was that people going for coffee in Washington's Dupont Circle had more computing power from their laptops than the average police officer. "I thought we had to look at the market forces allowing computing power in our homes -- let's get that for our police officers, our health and human service workers and our schools," said Kundra.

One approach is cutting back on large-scale development projects for office headquarters in favor of more mobile tools for field staff. Another is turning to low-cost solutions such as Google applications, open source tools and Software-as-a-Service. Kundra is convinced that by becoming an early adopter of breakthrough technology, the district can improve government operations and service delivery.

Why spend millions on enterprise applications, he reasons, when district workers can use low-cost Web tools, such as Intuit's QuickBase, for collaboration?

"I am comfortable making bets and accepting that some of those may fail," Kundra said, "while realizing that the ones that succeed we can scale easily and realize real structural value."

The key, he said, is to focus on the business process. An example of Kundra's approach is a procurement Web site for the construction of an evidence warehouse for the police department. Built in a few days with open source tools and YouTube video clips, it allows citizens to see the potential bidders, their location, solicitation and RFP information. Citizens can also see video clips of the mayor and city administrator explaining the process. "We can do in days what could take months or years traditionally," he said. "It's more competitive and open to the public."

One of Kundra's goals this year is to work with leaders to transform the district's schools by changing how curriculum is delivered and to get children excited about technology. Another goal is using more business analytics in public safety.