Neilitz serves as CIO for the Sokaogon Chippewa Community in Wisconsin, a job that gives him responsibility for tech activities for 20 tribal departments. It puts him in the front seat for cybersecurity, telehealth, distance learning and other areas that make up so much of government technology. Infrastructure is the main need, he said, and that opens the door to bringing in tools already used in relatively wealthy urban areas.
“Tech can create an equilibrium,” he said.
As he put it, his job involves not only tech support but making sure “everyone is on a consistent platform, protected with cybersecurity and connected with fiber.”
That can be a difficult goal, but Neilitz has public- and private-sector experience that includes being CEO of a Wisconsin tech supplier — a job that involved oversight of 68 full-time employees — and president of a county economic development operation. He also helps the state of Wisconsin on cybersecurity, reflecting one of the most important tasks for any CIO in 2025.
“It’s really about the relationships, not about Office 365,” he said.
And when working with tribal communities, it is also about understanding their history of oppression and poverty, and their lingering distrust of the federal government. But technology, if properly deployed, if properly geared to the specific needs of tribal members, can help overcome those concerns.
“In my opinion, technology doesn’t play politics,” he said.
This story originally appeared in the Spring 2025 issue of Government Technology magazine. Click here to view the full digital edition online.
