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David Cagigal to Remain Wisconsin CIO in New Administration

Appointed by former Gov. Scott Walker, David Cagigal has been serving as chief information officer for the state of Wisconsin since 2011. He will remain in his position under incoming Gov. Tony Evers.

A veteran of former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s administration will continue into the new administration of Gov. Tony Evers.

David Cagigal, who has been serving as Wisconsin’s chief information officer since 2011, will continue in the role. As CIO, Cagigal also serves as division administrator for the Division of Enterprise Technology (DET), which manages the state’s IT assets.

Cagigal’s continuance as CIO may strike some as an anomaly, since many new administrations bring in their own appointments for senior cabinet-level positions.

“Yes this is an anomaly,” agreed Doug Robinson, executive director of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers.

Walker, a Republican who pulled the state acutely to the right, was narrowly defeated in November when Evers, 67, a Democrat, landed 49.5 percent of the vote to Walker's’ 48.5 percent.

In an email to his DET staff earlier this month, Cagigal noted some of the department’s achievements last year, like BadgerNet, a statewide network services system serving all 72 counties.

“All the nearly 1,400 authorized user customers have been transformed to a faster, more resilient network,” Cagigal noted in his email.

The department also facilitated in “key infrastructure support” in the opening of the Hill Farms State Office Building in Madison, home to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, including the Division of Motor Vehicles, State Patrol, Division of Transportation Investment Management, Division of Transportation System Development, Division of Business Management, as well as Human Resources.

“We conducted a comprehensive, objective internal assessment that shined light on all our work and established the foundation for staff suggestions and ideas on how we can do that work better,” Cagigal wrote.

The Center for Digital Government’s 2018 Digital States Survey gave Wisconsin an overall grade of A-, matching the state’s A- grade from the 2016 survey.

“As the survey organizers explained, this reflects a state that is trending sharply up, showing results across all categories,” Cagigal told his staff.

Cagigal joined the Walker administration after spending a number of years in the private sector heading up IT programs at companies like Amoco Corp. and Maytag.

Skip Descant writes about smart cities, the Internet of Things, transportation and other areas. He spent more than 12 years reporting for daily newspapers in Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and California. He lives in downtown Yreka, Calif.