Features Public Sector

As a young man, D. Darnell Smith recognized the growing importance of info-tech, deciding to major in computer science rather than accounting at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and finding opportunities aplenty to ply that skill post-graduation. After long stretches of distinguished performance with E.I. DuPont and Elster Group, Smith opted for the […]

Last August, Chris McMasters, CIO of Corona, California, sat down to find an unexpected, but pleasant, email waiting for him: Representatives from What Works Cities (WWC) wanted to visit Corona to consider the city for their national initiative. Started by Bloomberg Philanthropy in April 2015, WWC helps mid-sized cities understand how data can improve services, […]

Government agencies are notorious for moving at a glacial pace, yet even when the pace is much faster—say, in one of America’s tech hubs, the Bay Area—there’s still room for improvement. And it’s not just a matter of speed, explains City of Oakland CIO Andrew “Pete” Peterson. Services must be available to everyone in all […]

After 20 years at Turner Field in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, the Atlanta Braves have moved to Sun Trust Park in the Cumberland neighborhood of nearby Cobb County. The scenery change is just one indication of county’s recent tech development efforts—showing that Cobb County can handle the auto and foot traffic once relegated to Atlanta proper. […]

Tameka Allen, the longtime director of information technology in Augusta and Richmond County in Georgia, got something of a battlefield promotion in 2014. Her responsibilities were upgraded to interim city administrator in the months that passed between the dismissal of veteran boss Fred Russell and the hiring of Janice Allen Jackson. While most comfortable in […]

When a city’s technology remains stagnant for years, it takes great force to get things moving again and to build the momentum required to keep up in an ever-changing tech landscape. There are few better examples of this than Birmingham, Alabama. In 2014, Mayor William A. Bell realized the city was, technologically speaking, stuck. So, […]

All too often, municipal websites uphold the stereotype that government is slow, complicated and difficult to interact with. As a resident, it can be challenging to determine which departments provide which services or how to navigate from one agency or department to the next. That’s exactly what the City of Indianapolis and Marion County are […]

There’s no denying that IT jobs can be stressful, and CIOs handle those stressors in different ways. For Steve Garske, witnessing—and contributing—to the life-saving work done by Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA) is enough to push ahead. “Whenever I have a rough day, I’ll just walk the halls to gain perspective. Watching all of […]

Not to be deterred by its size, Orange County Public Schools—one of the largest districts in the country—has the ambitious goal of putting a device in the hands of each of its 203,000 students. Perhaps more notable, though, is the district’s awareness of the security risks presented by such a flood of technology. Or so […]

Turns out, there are perks to being the site of Dell Technologies’ international headquarters. In 1994, Dell relocated its home base from Austin, Texas, to Round Rock, Texas, a smaller city about 20 miles north. Round Rock offered something Austin had run out of: space large enough for a Dell campus; and many of the […]