His appointment places Smith in a leadership role where he will help shape how state technology operations are managed across agencies. The office described the move in a news release as part of its ongoing effort to strengthen reliability, responsiveness and alignment with the needs of agencies.
Smith is no stranger to Nevada state government. According to the announcement Monday, his earlier work in Enterprise IT Services for the state involved supporting the adoption of platforms such as Office 365, Teams and SharePoint, and helping staff navigate that transition.
He later worked as an enterprise architect and Technology Investment Notification administrator before being elevated in 2022 to IT manager III of service management, overseeing the enterprise service and HR help desks, field support services and application server support teams.
Smith has a master’s degree in IT management from Western Governors University and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Chapman University.
The position, he said, will entail strengthening how agencies interact with IT services, particularly through more structured and consistent support processes.
“Technology strategy only matters if it shows up in the field as a faster fix, a clearer process, or a smoother day for our agency partners,” Smith said in a statement. “My focus is turning strategy into operational playbooks, guardrails, and measurable outcomes so our teams know what to do, not just why we are doing it.”
Much of the news release centered not only on technology systems, but on how agencies interact with the people supporting them. Smith connected government IT support to the job agencies do for residents.
“When an agency contacts us, they are usually not asking for IT help in the abstract,” he said. “They are trying to get back to serving Nevadans. Our job is to understand that mission, restore service quickly, communicate clearly, and learn from every issue so we can prevent the next one.”
Before entering public-sector technology work, Smith managed retail operations, an experience he said still influences how he approaches communication and customer service. He managed a Home Depot store for more than five years according to LinkedIn.
“Retail taught me to meet customers where they are, not where I wish they would be,” Smith said. “It is the same in government technology: clarify the need in plain language, set expectations, follow through, and make it easy to do the right thing.”
Nevada CIO Timothy Galluzi said Smith’s combination of technical and operational experience made him a strong fit for the job because he “understands both the technology and the people who depend on it … and has worked across the stack, led customer-facing teams, and built the kind of practical experience that helps turn big goals into better service.”
Smith said one of his objectives is for the Governor’s Technology Office to be viewed as “predictable, competent, and grounded in care” by the agencies relying on it.
“When we are doing it right, customers feel three things: predictability, competence and care,” he said. “They know what will happen and when, they trust that we can solve the problem, and they know we understand their mission. That is the standard.”
