Ahmed moved into the role on Monday, he confirmed via email. He now reports to the mayor-president of Baton Rouge’s city-parish government, and he is tasked with overseeing AI governance, AI adoption, modernization, infrastructure and security, in addition to guiding acquisitions and fostering partnerships for the department.
Ahmed is no stranger to Louisiana’s capital city, with more than 30 years of state-level tech experience in the government there, including a stint as state CIO from 2006 to 2008, according to his LinkedIn. While in that job he oversaw a $850 million technology budget, before going on to be the state’s Department of Natural Resources CIO from 2008 to 2019. Prior to taking on the job in Baton Rouge, Ahmed served as chief operating officer for the Shah Group, a position he held dating back to January 2020.
Baton Rouge’s previous IT leader, Eric Romero, retired Jan. 2, having served as the city CIO since 2012 and within city IT for about three decades. Under his tenure, Baton Rouge was regularly recognized in the Center for Digital Government’s* Digital Cities Survey, for work including implementing a new 311 system, ensuring public access to Wi-Fi and smoothing procurement.
Baton Rouge’s Information Services Department supports more than 4,000 full-time employees and includes network support; server administration; telecommunications; data, analytics and performance; application and development; and enterprise resource planning, according to the fiscal year 2025 budget. The division budget was $7.91 million.
*The Center for Digital Government is part of e.Republic, Government Technology’s parent company.
