Veteran Nashville CIO Keith Durbin Retires

Keith Durbin, the longtime IT leader for the city of Nashville and Davidson County, Tenn., has retired, marking the end of a 15-year tenure.

Durbin’s last day as CIO was May 10, a representative of the Nashville mayor’s office said via email.

John Griffey, Nashville’s chief security officer and assistant director of information security services of nearly nine years, has been appointed interim CIO and director of Information Technology Services (ITS). Durbin expressed strong support for Griffey on LinkedIn and said: “John is a great CISO who will make an excellent interim CIO.”

The departed CIO also reflected on his “epic” 15 years “with great feelings of pride and gratitude,” thanking his executive team and no fewer than five mayors for their support.

“Many thanks to everyone in ITS,” he wrote. “This team is responsible for so many remarkable achievements on behalf of the residents of Nashville and Davidson County.”

As CIO and ITD director, Durbin was instrumental in shaping the city’s IT landscape. Durbin is credited with creating the region’s information security program and an open data portal for Davidson County and Nashville, which is the county seat.

He also spearheaded the development of free Metro Public Wi-Fi, and the hubNashville/311 system. He also founded the Metropolitan Government Employee Emergency Support Fund, which provides financial assistance to Metro employees in times of need due to catastrophic life events.

Durbin’s work extended to smart city initiatives. He led the Connected Nashville project, which used technology and data to better inform officials on community issues and needed services. The CIO also worked with Vanderbilt University to create the Vanderbilt Institute for Smart Cities Operation and Research, a multidisciplinary research center that creates, develops, and deploys smart city applications.