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January 23, 2007 By Jessica Jones
After working 31 years in Ohio's public sector, 25 of which were in IT, CIO Mary Carroll retired at the end of January -- but not before making her mark.
The Ohio Business Gateway, first developed in 2002 with the goal of streamlining small and medium-sized businesses' interaction with the state, was so successful, Carroll said, that over the last few years, the gateway has grown.
"The Legislature likes it so much -- and they implemented the municipality tax, as well as a new commercial activity tax, called the CAT tax -- and said it'd be done on the Ohio Business Gateway."
Because there are more than 500 municipalities in Ohio, Carroll said, this was a big change for both the municipalities and the state in streamlining taxes. The CIO's office provides technical support to the gateway, orchestrates requirements, and works with staff and vendors to make necessary changes to the system.
"We coordinate the requirements with [agencies], and make sure all the agencies are talking together," she said. "We facilitate the steering committee, and I'm a member of the steering committee."
Ohio recently held "We Are IT Day," an event that encourages women to enter the IT field. Carroll, who would like to see more females in the IT arena, supported the event.
"Throughout my career, I've noticed a great lack of other female technologists," she said. "When I was an agency CIO, I was the only female. To this day, I'm often surprised -- but it still happens occasionally -- when I'm the only female in a room of CIOs. We've done better in the last few years, but I don't see people coming up the ranks in the numbers I'd like."
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