Arizona's CIO is appointed by the governor, as of July 1, 1997. Senate confirmation of my appointment [was required].
2. What training was most useful to you in your current position?
All of it. Seriously.
3. What are the biggest IT issues currently facing your jurisdiction?
1. Year 2000. 2. Shortage of skilled IT personnel 3. Modernization of IT infrastructure with limited budgets and limited credibility for IT performance.
4. What IT program are you most proud of?
Our Project Investment Justification process, and our efforts, thus far, to integrate the agency's business strategic planning with their automation planning.
5. What has been your most difficult challenge?
Teaching nontechnical agency and legislative leaders not to be intimidated by IT issues and decisions.
6. How will information technology change in five years?
Growing demands on Web infrastructure for e-commerce (secure transactions, public info). Increased standardization and baseline quality assurance among software and hardware vendors.
7. What do you wish vendors would do or not do?
I wish they would learn as much as they can about their customers' needs and current activities before trying to sell something that doesn't really fit. I wish they would care as much about the successful implementation of their product as they do about the sale.
8. When did you decide to enter government and what was the reason?
In college, I discovered that government was the place to go if you wanted to be given enormous responsibility at a young age for making decisions and making a difference.
9. How do you stay ahead of your e-mail?
Read the subject lines and delete liberally. Create lots of subfolders for offline reading.
10. How do you use the Internet? What sites are most useful to you?
Research; current news and developments; idea sharing and finding other writing to clarify my points. Web sites: Wall Street Journal; Washington Post; Arizona Legislative Information Service; Year 2000 Information Center.
11. Who's the person you most admire?
Barry Goldwater and Martin Luther King, Jr. Goldwater for his espousal of personal freedom and King for his espousal of personal responsibility and commitment to our fellow man.