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District of Columbia Appoints Bryan Sivak as New CTO

Mayor Adrian Fenty picks outsider for city's top tech position.

The District of Columbia's Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced today the appointment of Bryan Sivak as chief technology officer. Sivak replaces Chris Willey, who has been the district's interim CTO since Vivek Kundra was appointed federal CIO earlier this year.

"Bryan Sivak brings a wealth of software and Internet technology experience to District government, and we look forward to putting his talents to good use for our residents," said Fenty in a press release statement.

In 2002, Sivak founded InQuira Inc., a knowledge management software firm that has done business with the public sector, including several ministries in the United Kingdom. Prior to starting InQuira, Sivak worked with a number of IT firms, including IBM.

As CTO for the District of Columbia, he will oversee a $175 million IT budget. The Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) provides IT operations and support for more than 26,000 city employees. The nation's capital has a population of 588,000.

The district's OCTO gained national attention last year when former CTO Kundra launched Apps for Democracy, a contest to build Web-based applications using the city's many data feeds. A total of 47 apps were submitted, worth an estimated $2.6 million in avoided contract costs. The district's OCTO announced a second round of winners in September 2009.

 

With more than 20 years of experience covering state and local government, Tod previously was the editor of Public CIO, e.Republic’s award-winning publication for information technology executives in the public sector. He is now a senior editor for Government Technology and a columnist at Governing magazine.