Features Government

Viggo Forde operates at the intersection of technology and public service, leading one of the most critical functions within Snohomish County, Washington, part of the Seattle metropolitan region. As chief information officer and director of IT, he is responsible for enabling systems that support more than 840,000 residents and over 3,400 employees, all of whom […]

Troy Horton’s journey to becoming Chief Information Officer for the Health and Human Services group at the Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) didn’t begin in a data center—it began in the U.S. Marine Corps. For nine years, Horton served as an avionics technician, mastering complex systems and leadership under pressure. Those years forged […]

So, Sean Greer is asked to assess his five rather whirlwind years as director of information technology.  “It’s been one changing urgency and crisis from the next,” the affable Greer tells Toggle from his Mile High City office in April. “COVID, the vaccinations, the return to work, the homeless and migrant crisis. And here we […]

The IT director of a major American city plays a crucial role in ensuring the smooth functioning and advancement of technology systems and services within the city’s infrastructure. This demanding position requires a deep understanding of various technologies, including software and hardware systems, cybersecurity measures, network infrastructure and data management. Luckily for the City of […]

Jeff Scheetz likes to joke that he moved from his native Colorado to Avondale, Arizona, to escape the snow. He’s done that, although it also means he left some of his favorite fishing streams behind when he became chief information officer for the city of 89,334 that’s on the western boundary of Phoenix. However, Scheetz […]

Craig McBeath earned a promotion to director of information technology for the City of Bloomington, Illinois, just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. And his first task was keeping the city’s services up and running as the whole country was shutting down. Located in central Illinois, roughly two hours southwest of Chicago, Bloomington is home to […]

Onward it goes, the migration of on-premise case management systems to the more secure yet still accessible cloud. Time was when it might have been met with dissent by the people who administer Michigan’s Macomb County, but as Chief Information Officer Jako van Blerk assures, the process proceeds according to plan and with the support […]

Ashtabula County, Ohio, sits on the shores of Lake Erie, all 720 square miles of it dotted with quaint towns and picturesque greenery. It’s known for its wine country, covered bridges and—if you ask Rockford Benson—the down-to-earth friendliness of its 97,000 people. Benson is a native son who came home to serve his neighbors. He’s […]

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a gigabit city. Lots of complexities must be satisfied when laying down a fiber-optic network with its nearly unlimited bandwidth and speed-of-light data transmission. All things considered, the four years-plus that it took to wire Lexington, Kentucky, went about as smoothly as could be expected, says […]

While Shane Simmons knew the demand for cybersecurity analysts  was high, he didn’t predict how many people would be interested in the career path. Earlier this year, 86 people applied for 10 spots in an internship program that he created with the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce.  Simmons, the organization’s chief information office […]