Bertolini made the announcement Friday morning via Twitter, where he thanked his team for their “incredible work for our citizens.” He started his career in local government as an entry-level property appraiser in 1988, eventually working his way up to CIO in 2001, where he oversaw more than 150 employees serving about 1.2 million residents. His last day is Aug. 30.
Today I officially retire from Oakland County after 31 years and I want to thank the amazing team for the many years of incredible work for our citizens. I will miss you all! — Phil Bertolini (@PhilBertolini) August 30, 2019
As the recession continued, his idea expanded into what is now the G2G Marketplace, a portal offering solutions from approved vendors to government agencies. The goal was to provide agencies with a simple way to research, purchase and implement technology and services. The purchasing and licensing processes were boiled down to pre-negotiated blanket agreements.
“The small towns in Michigan don’t have the resources or the money, but we are large and have the capabilities,” Bertolini said of the G2G Marketplace. “I look at assisting the smaller governments as part of our mission.”
Reflecting upon how the recession impacted IT, Bertolini told Government Technology in 2012 that the deployment of cost-saving innovations with a high-yield result is the way IT shops will operate and continue to evolve.
“I think we’ve gone too far to go back,” he said. “We’ve shifted the way we do business so much, and we’ve put efficiencies into the process, that to go back just wouldn’t make sense.”
