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September 18, 2009 By Tod Newcombe, Editor
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has picked CIO Bill Bryan to be deputy director of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and director of the Division of State Parks.
Bryan worked with Nixon as deputy chief counsel for environmental affairs in the attorney general's office prior to his appointment as CIO in January. Bryan, who was appointed to his new position at DNR on Sept. 14, has worked for the state for 18 years.
No successor has been named to replace Bryan as CIO. Currently Arlan Holmes is deputy for administration for Information Technology Services and Steve Siegler is deputy for operations, according to the ITS Web site.
"Bill Bryan has already served Missouri admirably as an environmental advocate, by prosecuting cases against polluters who damage our air, land and water," Nixon said in a written statement. "Bill will bring to the DNR the same sterling environmental credentials and aggressive approach to environmental protection that he demonstrated for many years in the Attorney General's Office."
Bryan's appointment comes at a controversial time for DNR, according to Missouri political blogger Chad Livengood. Reports of high levels of E.coli bacteria at Lake of the Ozarks were intentionally withheld by Bryan's predecessor, former DNR deputy director Joe Bindbeutel.
While working in the attorney general's office, Bryan pursued actions against polluters and violators of state pollution laws, and was named Outstanding Public Official of the Year in 1998 by the Sierra Club.
As CIO, Bryan continued the work of consolidating the state's numerous data centers started by his predecessor, former state CIO Dan Ross. Bryan also moved quickly to take advantage of the fast-moving trend in cloud computing.
In a recent article, Bryan told Public CIO that Missouri was working on a virtual desktop initiative that will let the IT department provide application services remotely to various departments in a pay-per-use scenario. Bryan described it as an internal, virtual cloud that users access on remote desktops.
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I hope he addresses the needs of the elderly and disabled who live on a fixed income and cannot afford the high prices for camping. Many of these people cannot afford entertainment or vacations or have the ability to get out into nature very often. Other states offer huge discounts for these people, maybe this issue could be addressed as I spend all summer in the parks and rarely, if ever, is it really busy except around July 4th. Why can't we fill all those empty spaces with responsible older people and let the campground make some money off ice, wood, ice cream, keepsakes and all the things people need when camping? Thank you for keeping the campstore stock reasonably priced. If more people were there, it would make the campstores more profitable.