Charlotte, N.C., CIO Named to 50 Most Influential African Americans in Technology List

Charlotte, N.C.'s CIO Jeff Stovall was named one of the 50 Most Influential African Americans in Technology by San Francisco-based publisher eAccess Corp. The purpose of the list is to raise the profile of the more than 600,000 African-Americans who work in the technology field as well as to inspire new generations to surpass their many accomplishments. The tradition began at 1998 exhibit at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, Calif. Titled Turning the Century, it compared modern innovators with the generation of black inventors at the end of the 19th century.

"I am honored to have my name listed among such a talented group of individuals," Stovall said. "I also hope that I am able to live up to the distinction by inspiring a future generation to enter a field that has tremendous impacts in all aspects of our lives." The Richmond, Va., native will be honored along with his fellow recipients at the 10th Anniversary Symposium on Jan. 15, 2010 in San Francisco.

Stovall joined Charlotte in May 2008 as its first CIO. He oversees the formulation and evaluation of long- and short-term initiatives for e-business, IT portfolio management, information security, business process improvement, technology project management and strategic planning, as well as the application of new technologies to solve business problems. Before joining the city, Stovall worked for Sprint Nextel, where he was director of IT merger integration planning.

Stovall received a master's degree in business administration from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia, and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Other honorees in the top 50 include New York state CIO Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, New York state deputy CIO Sharon J. Cates-Williams and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.