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Pardoe was named acting CIO in October, and elevated to permanent the same month, closely following the departure of former CIO Amaya Capellán. Before becoming CIO, Pardoe had been the inaugural executive director of the Commonwealth Office of Digital Experience (CODE PA) since its 2023 launch.
CODE PA’s work was focused on quickly building technology solutions to improve resident experience, Pardoe said, which informs her approach to being CIO: “So, I think for me, it’s really taking some of those human-centered design principles that we had deeply rooted in everything that we did in CODE PA and really thinking about how that translates to the organization as a whole.”
CODE PA’s team leverages human-centered design principles in everything they do, Pardoe said. The office, which will see a 40 percent budget increase in the new year, will continue its work to improve permitting and grant administration process, and identity and access management.
“I think it’s an incredible recognition of the work that we’ve done so far,” the CIO said of the budget increase, noting that the office’s continuing work on these initiatives will have an impact in 2026 as the team shifts from planning to implementation.
Thus far, her work as CIO has largely been focused on familiarizing herself with the state IT landscape, Pardoe said, including the different teams, tools and services of Pennsylvania government. But the state’s IT work in 2025 goes beyond that.
Officials have been working internally and externally to optimize the help desk experience. Elsewhere, significant upgrades to the state’s network are intended to support a wireless-first experience for employees, residents and tourists; this is a significant transition, to modernize older buildings and systems, Pardoe said.
Pennsylvania leadership wants to make the state a leader in AI technology; an example is the state’s Generative AI Pilot Program. The pilot started with 175 employees but, through training and governance, has been scaled to support the roughly 5,000 employees that have requested to use GenAI tools, Pardoe said.
Any AI use case an agency wants to implement requires approval from the state’s Generative AI Governing Board, she said, and use cases are rising. One request was to create an internal large language model chatbot to help customer support agents explore whether AI could help predict road conditions during weather events.
The state also has a Generative AI Labor and Management Collaboration Group, which addresses how AI will impact the state job market.
“So, we continue to build on that initial foundation but make sure that we’re using AI at the right time — so right hammer, right nail — for AI across the commonwealth,” Pardoe said.
The Office of Administration, the umbrella office for state IT, is working closely with the Department of General Services to transform procurement. Already, the state has launched an invitation to qualify for digital services to create a pool of prequalified vendors capable of working at the pace constituents expect from government Pardoe said.
New technology solutions start with the state Office of Administration-IT, which Pardoe views as the “enabling force” underlying a lot of the state government’s work: “And our goal is just to continue to show up and support agencies in the best way that we can.”
Pardoe will, she said, continue to learn the landscape of Pennsylvania government in 2026 to be able to better support the staff that has been driving IT work. She is also looking to support large-scale projects underway, like modernizing permitting and grants processes. And there’s more work ahead on the state’s journey to a single username and password across Pennsylvania digital government — which the CIO said will improve both constituent and employee experiences.
“So, I think the more that we dig in, the more wins we’ll be able to put on the board for Pennsylvanians in 2026,” Pardoe said.
