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J.R. Sloan

CIO, Arizona

Arizona CIO JR Sloan
Arizona CIO J.R. Sloan has been a hard-charging advocate for making technology pull its weight in state government since taking over in 2019.

The efforts of Sloan and his team at the Arizona Strategic Enterprise Technology (ASET) Office were perhaps most noticeable during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the state’s critical investments in cloud technology paid dividends. At the time, Sloan called the move “the single largest transformational initiative” of the last few years. That consolidation — which narrowed the footprint of 90 official and unofficial data centers spread across the state to two major locations and the cloud — enabled a quick transition to the remote work needs of some 90 state agencies. “Everyone had cloud-based tools for collaboration and virtual meetings. Moving quickly on cloud technologies really positioned us well for that transition,” he told GovTech in October 2020. The state’s trust-but-verify approach to IT shows prominently in how it vets cloud vendors through the AzRAMP process and its participation in the larger-scale StateRAMP initiative, an effort Sloan undertook a leadership role in crafting.

Where government work intersects with the public, Sloan has been a force for progress. In 2021, he reported that the state’s resume of digital services had reached 266 — the equivalent of 550,000 transactions worth $147 million. Similarly, the creation of a new e-licensing platform streamlined access to professional licensing. In 2020, the state earned an A- grade for these efforts in the Digital States Survey* under Sloan’s leadership.

*The Digital States Survey is a program of the Center for Digital Government, part of e.Republic, Government Technology's parent company.
Eyragon Eidam is the web editor for Government Technology magazine, after previously serving as assistant news editor and covering such topics as legislation, social media and public safety. He can be reached at eeidam@erepublic.com.