Palm Beach County’s CIO Archie Satchell has left the role and Michael Butler, who previously served as deputy CIO, has stepped in as acting CIO. Butler confirmed via email that Archie recently decided to retire and that he is currently acting CIO “for the foreseeable future.”
According to Butler, the transition began in mid-November, when he was promoted from chief technology officer to deputy CIO after Satchell announced his retirement. While Satchell’s official retirement date is Jan. 16, he has been out of the office since mid-December on leave, with Butler handling CIO duties in his absence.
Lisa De La Rionda, director of the county’s Public Affairs Department, shared an internal resignation letter Satchell sent in November with Government Technology. In the letter, Satchell reflected on his years with the county, describing the experience as “incredibly rewarding,” while highlighting the department’s achievements in modernizing infrastructure, strengthening cybersecurity, improving service delivery and advancing innovation — all things that, he said, “shaped the county’s digital future and created a legacy I am proud to have been part of.”
Satchell had an extensive tenure with Palm Beach County spanning 35 years, beginning in 1991 as a senior programmer and analyst. Over the next three decades, he held roles such as systems architect, senior manager of application services, director of application services, deputy CIO and ultimately CIO beginning in 2018.
Throughout the journey, his perspective on leadership and technology seemed to evolve. A few weeks ago, in a LinkedIn post, Satchell reflected on what he deemed a shift from being solely a system-focused technologist to a public servant. He wrote, “I used to believe my role was simply to build systems. I measured success in lines of code, in processes completed, in frameworks that held together neatly. Slowly, I realized that the true measure of my work wasn’t in the systems themselves, but in the people they affected. What started as a pursuit of building became a calling to serve.”
Butler, now the acting CIO, has years of experience with Palm Beach County as well, in many aspects that mirror Satchell’s rise to CIO. His time at the county dates to 1986 and since joining county IT in the mid-1990s, Butler spent more than 31 years as director of network services, before advancing into senior leadership roles in 2025.
