Virginia Beach, Va., Appoints New CIO

Matthew Arvay, the CIO of the city of Evansville and Vanderburgh County, Ind., was tapped to serve in the same role for Virginia Beach, Va., according to a recent announcement from Virginia Beach City Manager James Spore. Arvay will begin his new position Sept. 1.

Arvay has served in his current position with Evansville and Vanderburgh County since 2004 and previously served as the executive director of GIS there.

“He represents the city’s commitment to both technology excellence and innovation,” Spore said in a statement posted on Virginia’s Beach’s website. “Matt’s wealth of experience in developing collaborative relationships will complement the IT department’s technology leadership.”

As Virginia Beach’s CIO, Arvay will oversee the city’s Department of Communications and Information Technology, which has 178 full-time employees and a $22.8 million annual budget. His annual salary will be $130,000.

According to the announcement, Arvay will replace Gwen Cowart, who retired in December. The city’s CTO, Mick Vollmer, has been acting as interim director.

On behalf of Evansville/ Vanderburgh, Arvay received a special achievement award for GIS from Esri, the Redlands, Calif.-based company that specializes in geographic software and services. Evansville/ Vanderburgh received the award in 2003 for its GIS work and progress on its enterprise GIS system. The city/county is one of only 150 organizations worldwide to have ever received the award.