Riddick was appointed to the role in December 2020, making him the first permanent CIO to hold the position since Robert Samson stepped down in 2019. Prior to his appointment, he served as CIO of the U.S. Virgin Islands and spent more than three decades in the U.S. Army.
In a written statement from the Office of Information Technology Services (ITS), the agency said he will resign at the end of this month and plans to retire to Florida to live in the house he built with his wife.
Deputy CIO Jennifer Lorenz will serve as acting CIO while the state conducts a search for a permanent replacement, the spokesperson said. Lorenz has more than a decade of experience with ITS.
“Under her leadership, this organization will continue to function at a very high level, providing innovative tech solutions to more than 50 state entities and the people of New York,” the spokesperson wrote.
The spokesperson said Riddick is proud of the work he helped to lead, including the establishment of the Joint Security Operations Center, which they described as “a national model” for government cybersecurity collaboration.
“I think it will position us to make the state more secure as a whole and help us to collaborate with all entities that inevitably receive state services,” he told Government Technology about the effort in May 2022.
Another accomplishment cited in the statement was helping state agencies build back stronger in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re not returning to the way things were pre-pandemic,” he told Government Technology in 2022, citing a hybrid workforce and an increased focus on broadband access.
The statement also referenced modernization efforts for the state, which he told Government Technology in 2022 involved using mainframe as a service in the process of digital transformation.
Riddick is “forever grateful to New York state for the opportunity of a lifetime,” the statement noted.
