RALEIGH, N.C. -- Its the end of an era in North Carolina, as Rick Webb will depart state service in September.

Webb, the states CIO for the last three years, will assume the role of managing director of PricewaterhouseCoopers State and Local Government Practice on Sept. 1. He will focus his efforts on e-government.

"I will miss being a change agent in government," Webb said. "I really think weve come a long way in three years -- particularly in the way we view and manage technology. We were able to build in a real enterprise approach to technology across agency boundaries."

Webb is also excited about the states steps toward digital government. "Weve put in place a mechanism to really move digital government forward; again, from an enterprise perspective," he said. "Weve put the architecture in place. Weve put the project-management approach to it in place and set in place a vision of where we want to go."

While North Carolinas CIO, Webb served as the southern regional director on NASIREs Executive Committee and was the chairman of NASIREs Telecommunications Committee. In addition, he was selected as CIO of the Year by the Society for Information Management in January.

He has been part of North Carolinas journey of taking IT from a line-item budget expenditure to a strategic initiative. But, he noted, leadership is key, and that leadership has to be strong at the agency level, the legislative level and the executive level.

"Gov. Hunt has been a tremendous advocate for us, and weve been able to work closely with him, the other leadership in the executive branch and the legislative branch," Webb said. "Were one of the states that, when we show up at a conference, we walk in with someone from the university community, the judicial community, the legislative community or the executive branch -- all talking about what were doing together. The team concept and the partnership and synergy that weve built are something that Im going to miss tremendously."

"We are pleased to have him join our team to share his insights and experience in e-government with our state and local government clients across the country," said Hank Cooper, manager of PricewaterhouseCoopers State and Local Government consulting practice.